CAIRO: Egypt's El Nasr Clothing & Textile Co (Kabo) said on Thursday a labor strike since Aug. 17 had lost the company production worth LE 4 million ($672,300) and disrupted exports worth LE 3 million. The firm said in a statement to the stock exchange that a minority of workers had threatened other employees with violence, preventing them from working. Many Egyptian workers, emboldened by the uprising that toppled president Hosni Mubarak, have gone on strike demanding better wages and conditions. Most of the strikes have died down, but sporadic outbursts continue. Kabo, one of the earliest public firms to be privatized, has been reorganizing itself and listed on the stock exchange in 1997. It has trimmed its workforce and streamlined operations. "Management was surprised by new demands raised by workers, particularly in that ... the administration had already responded to all the workers' demands," Chairman Amr El-Sharnoubi, appointed in September 2009, wrote in the statement. Sharnoubi said the firm had already given workers a 15 percent raise, more allowances, provided all temporary workers with permanent contracts and promoted about 1,500 employees. He said the changes cost the firm about LE 9 million annually. Kabo, which has retail outlets in Egypt under its flagship brand Jil, has also been unable to deliver products to the local market worth LE 3.5 million because of the strikes, the statement added. The firm's board has been in "constant convention" since Aug. 21, the statement added, saying the new demands would be shown to the firm's general assembly to take necessary decisions that "would protect the firm and its shareholders". Kabo is 49 percent owned by Amwal Al Arabia, the textiles arm of Arab Cotton Ginning Co and sister company Egypt Ginning. Kabo owns Wave, a local apparel retailer, and has a stake in Alexandria Spinning and Weaving. Its shares were unchanged on Thursday. The stock has fallen 27 percent this year, compared with a 35 percent drop by Egypt's benchmark EGX30 index.
