CAIRO: Protesting railway safety technicians ended their strike Friday after a meeting between the director of the central administration of the Department of Safety, the board of directors of the Egyptian Railway Union and members of State Security. The meeting concluded with four of the workers' 10 demands being accepted. The remaining six demands will be considered and decided upon subsequently. Protesting railway safety technician Ahmed Abdel Wahab provided Daily News Egypt with a copy of the hand-written minutes of the meeting. The minutes state that the objective of the meeting is to "end the workers' riotous assembly - a reference to the peaceful protest begun by the technicians on Wednesday in Ramsis railway station's central hall. The minutes then go on to list the workers' ten demands. The railway management agreed to reimburse workers for expenses incurred during journeys between Aug. 1 and Nov. 30; compensate workers who work on national holidays; reorganize work schedules and the drawing up of these schedules uniquely by the central administration of the Department of Safety and, finally; that workers only have to sign in and out of work in one log. Demands under consideration pertain to incentive payments and the drawing up of permanent contracts. Both the protestors' demand for insurance and their request that two rather than one technician be assigned to each train were rejected. Abdel Wahab told Daily News Egypt, "we're happy with the agreement reached and have agreed to end the protest.
