CAIRO: Negotiations between lawyers from Islam Online (IOL) and Media International were stalled Thursday afternoon after both parties failed to agree on terms for a financial settlement slated to end an employee strike approaching its third week. Representatives of Abdullah El-Naggar, head of Media International's board and member of the board of Al-Balagh foundation, IOL's main funder, met Thursday afternoon with a team of lawyers headed by Yasser Fathy. "They demanded that all employees resign in order to receive their financial packages, Fathy told Daily News Egypt. "This is a [classic] case of Egyptian employees being hampered at the hands of a foreign management. A follow-up meeting is scheduled for Sunday, March 28. Among the disputed terms was Al-Balagh's stipulation that employees who took loans will have to pay them back immediately. But according to preliminary talks held last week, it was agreed that loans will be paid back in installments. Fathy had demanded that employees with contracts that end in December 2010 be paid their salaries till the end of the year. However, the settlement proposed by Media International Thursday granted employees an end of service bonus equivalent to only six months in addition to a one-month salary for every year in service and compensation for the remaining days of their annual holidays. A vehicle that presumably carried money from Qatar was parked outside IOL's office on Thursday. Disagreements arose when the negotiators insisted that employees who refuse to resign will not receive their March salaries, added Fathy, referring to those hoping to be part of a new website designed to carry on IOL's mission. The new initiative, which was proposed on Tuesday, will take the form of an Initial Public Offering (IPO), inviting multiple shareholders who will not have the right to interfere with the website's content. Fathy added that the lawyers said that 30 employees will not be receiving any of their money. Their names have not yet been disclosed. "I think that they are prolonging the process to put financial pressure on the employees to agree on a settlement, said Fathy. If an agreement is not reached during Sunday's meeting, Fathy intends to ask the Ministries of Information, Social Solidarity and Labor to interfere. The strike, which started on March 15, was triggered by news of mass lay-offs and that contracts which end on March 31 will not be renewed. IOL staff members have also told the media that the strike was against the fact that the new management at Al-Balagh holding company wanted to impose a more conservative tone on the website's progressive approach to editorial content. "I think that settling the money issue is their way of telling the media that the issue has been resolved and that it [the sit-in] was about the money and not the message, which is not true, said Doaa El-Shamy, a journalist working for the youth section at IOL. "A sum of money will not make me leave, added El-Shamy. One source told Daily News Egypt that after Thursday's meeting some employees started to doubt the management of Media International Egypt. "The way we see it now is that there is a lack of transparency on their side, said a source who preferred to remain anonymous. Some managing editors at IOL have been approached to lead the new initiative, an act believed to have triggered doubts among the rest of the employees, according to the same source. "They [Media International] knew about the trouble. They almost led us to the situation ... It seems that there's a power play at hand. What about the people who haven't been approached? However, some employees remained optimistic about the new initiative. "I choose to continue to build the new project with the same professional integrity and moderate message, said Abdel Hady Abu Talib, editor of the counseling pages of IOL. "I support the new initiative and I support those who are drafting it, said Eman, who requested anonymity by concealing her last name. "I am not worried. I had a message to deliver. Islam Online was my tool for the war against Zionists and the Americans, she added. On Thursday IOL employees chanted slogans demanding that Atef Abdel Moghny, appointed by Al-Balagh as a Development Manager at IOL, not take part in the settlement talks. He was not allowed inside the building. His appointment was part of the Qatari foundation's effort to restructure the website, and he has since done little to earn the trust of the employees. "He was never truthful about anything he told us. He thinks we're only protesting for money, El-Shamy said. "He's here with bodyguards, and you never know [if they will do something] to the building and then blame it on us, she added. Last week, the board of Al-Balagh, headed by Sheikh Yousef El-Qaradawi was dissolved and replaced by an interim board headed by Ibrahim El-Ansary. El-Ansari and Ali El-Emady, members in a newly elected board, are believed to have spurred the sit-in. They were among a recent board shuffle at Al-Balagh and are believed to have orchestrated plans to move the headquarters of the popular Islamic online resource to Qatar.
