CAIRO: Workers from the Amonsito textiles company have resumed protest action four months after redundancy pay pledges remain unpaid. On Monday workers gathered at the headquarters of the Egyptian Federation of Trade Unions (EFTU) and began a sit-in in the building's lobby. Around 100 workers were there on Tuesday afternoon. Amonsito's Alaa Abdel-Meneim expressed anger at what he described as workers being treated as “scum”. In 2007, Amonsito's owner, Syrian-American businessman Adel Agha, fled Egypt leaving the textile factory heavily debt-ridden. Since that time, Amonsito's workers have been receiving incomplete salaries intermittently or not at all. In March, following a 21-day sit-in by workers outside parliament, an agreement was reached between the Ministry of Manpower and Immigration and Bank Misr, which as creditor is responsible for liquidating the company's assets whereby workers would be paid LE 106 million. When this agreement was not upheld workers resumed their sit-in. The offer of LE 106 million was subsequently reduced to LE 50 million on May 24, 2010 when Amonsito workers' two-week sit-in outside parliament was forcibly dispersed by security bodies. “A month ago [EFTU president] Hussein Megawer told us that he wouldn't be able to give us pay packages based on our gross salaries. He said that he would give us the base salary plus [the social insurance], three or four months for each year served,” Abdel-Meneim explained. “We agreed. He proposed LE 86 million, we said OK. He said, ‘but no protests because of our image in front of the world', we said OK”. Workers were then told to wait for a month while Hussein Megawer traveled abroad to accompany his wife who was undergoing surgery. According to Abdel-Meneim, officials have reneged on their promise of LE 86 million and workers are again being offered LE 50 million. “Where do we go? What are we supposed to do? Who do we talk to? [Manpower Minister] Aisha Abdel-Hady lies. Hussein Megawer lies,” said Abdel-Meneim, who has been with Amonsito for 18 years. “Should people who have been with Amonsito for 28 years accept [a redundancy payment of] LE 25,000?” According to union committee head Khaled El-Shishawy, Abdel-Hady appeared on the Mehwar channel's 90 Minutes talk show and said, “They are entitled to LE 86 million but I can only give them LE 50 million.” “Who can get us our rights if the minister says that we are entitled to LE 86 million but she can't give it to us?” El-Shishawy asked. Bank Misr was scheduled to have an executive board meeting on Wednesday. El-Shishawy said that workers have proposed that raw materials worth roughly LE 20 million seized by Bank Misr when Amonsito was brought under administration be sold and the proceeds go to workers.
