CAIRO — The government has been quietly concerned over the
spread of labor unrest in Egypt.
The unrest has been sparked by Egypt's privatization plan in which
state-owned companies have been sold to Arab and Islamic investors. The new
owners have sought major layoffs as well as reduction in employee benefits.
"It's simmering and could result in massive protests that would dwarf
anything related to the pro-democracy movement," a Western diplomatic source
said.
The labor unrest comes as Egypt's opposition plans a wave of anti-regime
demonstrations later this month. The pro-reform Kifaya movement intends to
stage 13 protests around Egypt on April 27 as part of a demand for democracy
and free national elections this fall.
Egypt's privatization plan has been supported by the United States,
International Monetary Fund and World Bank. The state owns numerous textile
companies nationalized in the 1950s under the regime of the late President
Gamal Abdul Nasser.
Many of the strikes have taken place in the Cairo area, home to about 20
million. At the Egyptian-Spanish Asbestos Products Company, or Ora Misr, 287
workers have been on strike since November 2004, when a Muslim Brotherhood
member bought the plant from the government.
Four hundred workers of the Qalyub Spinning Co., about 20 kilometers
north of Cairo, have been on strike in protest of the sale of the firm to a
private investor for $1 million. Workers and management have been mired in a
dispute over an early retirement package.
Authorities outlaw strikes undertaken without the approval of the
government-controlled trade union federation. The federation has not
endorsed the labor actions.
The Egyptian government has slated nearly 700 state-owned assets — 170
of which were designated for sale in 2005 — for some form of privatization.
Investment Minister Mahmoud Mohieldin has been in charge of the
privatization plan, which would affect 420,000 laborers.
Monthly wages in most state-owned enterprises range from $50 to $100 per
month. Most of the state companies, undercut by production in China and East
Asia, have lost money.
The Muslim Brotherhood's pro-business wing has refused to support the
strikers. But younger members support the labor action.
"Some suspect that the government is highly strategic about when it
chooses to confront the Muslim Brothers," Joel Benin, a U.S. professor in
Cairo who has researched the strikes, said. "The regime knows the extent of
the Brothers' popular support, and, for that reason, its leaders are
periodically arrested. But an all-out assault on the Brothers carries many
political risks in an already unstable political situation."
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