CAIRO: The Egyptian capital saw major traffic congestion yesterday as thousands of public transport workers continued to strike for the second day. Workers at 11 of the 19 public transport garages across Cairo continued to strike Wednesday, leaving people crowding the streets waiting for public buses. The week prior to Ramadan is usually more crowded than the rest of the year as people go shopping to stock up on essential food items. Thousands of drivers, ticket collectors and mechanics are protesting low wages and harassment by traffic police. They criticized the Public Transport Authority for loading the traffic violation fines on their salaries that don't exceed LE 500 at best. Some fines can reach LE 3,000 under the new traffic law issued in 2008. Khaled Aly, head of the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights, said, "Security officials failed to thwart the strike despite relentless attempts to end it by force. "We showed our solidarity with the drivers' demands, because although the Public Transport Authority's revenues rose by 3.9 percent last year, workers did not receive any incentives, he added. The center also announced that public transport workers in Alexandria are going on strike in solidarity with their counterparts in Cairo. According to Aly, the authority is trying to lessen the congestion by summoning drivers who are on holiday, canceling drivers' breaks and resorting to drivers and collectors who are not affiliated with the authority to replace the striking workers. The General Union for Land Transport Workers announced that the Cairo governor along with the Manpower Ministry proposed that workers end the strike and in return they will not be charged for traffic fines and will receive LE 120 in incentives if they work for 24 days. Wael, a driver in Nasr city garage, was not satisfied with the proposal, saying it ignored the rest of the workers' demands. "We will continue to strike until our demands are met, he said. Wael added that although they conveyed their demands to the government, they are yet to receive a "solid response; we only received some promises that are questionable. "Now there are limited public transport buses operating in Cairo; the drivers that are in service are either forced to do so or were recently hired, he said, confirming that more than 25,000 workers are still on strike. "We are now collecting signatures for the withdrawal of confidence from the labor union committees because they failed to convey our demands to the government.
