MAHALLA - Contemplating the loud debate going on in Egypt over the current post-revolutionary transitional period, one can sense the possible emergence of a second revolution. If this were to occur, some people believe it would of the impoverished while others think it would be of the workers, who long suffered neglect by successive governments prior to the January revolution. It is true that the January revolution was preceded by many labour strikes, the most famous of which occurred on April 6, 2008, notably in the Egyptian textiles centre of Mahalla. Tens of thousands of workers organised wide demonstrations and strikes to attempt to force the then government to respond to their financial demands. There are indications a wider labour strike might be held, which would cover most ��" if not all ��" the factories of Egypt. Some analysts have attributed the workers' motives for holding these strikes as blackmailing the incumbent government in order to obtain further financial gains, together with some labour leaders attempting to gain fame and workers' support prior to the trades union elections. One of the worker's many demands is to obtain the two-month incentive grant first offered to the workers last year, according to the decision of the former Minister of Investment Mohie Eddin el-Gharib, as a result of the profits obtained by public sector companies. Although most of the factories failed to be profitable this year, because of the critical condition the country is passing through since the revolution, the workers insist on getting the incentive grant this year too. "We have been accustomed to any financial allocations, if paid once, becoming a regular annual payment," said Saeed el-Gohari, the Chairman of the Spinning and Weaving Workers Union. Quoted by Al-Mossawar Arabic magazine, el-Gohari justified the workers demands by referring to all the press comment on the funds looted by the former regime. "So they seek to be paid all their financial rights immediately. They are being encouraged by some workers' candidates who are encouraging them to increase their demands to unprecedented levels." In this regard, el-Gohari warns against any delay in paying the workers these two months incentive, whose costs he estimated at no less than LE one billion. He advised, as well, to speed up in holding trades union elections to stop the financial demands of the workers reaching a level that exceeds the government's ability to fulfil them. Strangely enough, it is the spinning and weaving factories, whose workers intend to lead this labour strike, that are unable to generate the required funds to pay wages of the workers or to get the requisite financial support from the government. The Chairman of the Holding Company for Spinning and Weaving Mohssen el-Guilani admits his company's inability in practice to pay the workers' wages and make them the two-month incentives payment, to which he did not express any opposition in principle. The cost is estimated at LE 120 million for the Spinning and Weaving workers alone, which, el-Guilani suggests, could be financed by the Companies' Reconstruction Fund. The question, accordingly, arises: what about workers of other fields of industry and how could the government finance their new demands? The solution lies in the government moving quickly to contact workers and convince them of the country's need for increasing production to overcome the economic crisis as the only means of enhancing the financial resources of their companies to pay them good incentives and even make pay rises. To get the workers on their side, governmental officials need to devise a clear plan for the development of these factories, especially that of weaving and textile. These have suffered from a deterioration of production machinery and a shortage of raw materials, combined with corrupt leadership, causing huge losses to the giant industry. Thus, it is high time to work out a solution to the industrial problems and help this industry to get afloat in such a way as to make profits again, a good percentage of which should be allocated to the workers. This labour crisis should not be treated with the same old use of tranquillisers (like the two-month incentives) but brought within a wider plan for the industrial development of Egypt.
