ThE RISE of
EgypT’S WoRkERS
Joel Beinin
MIDDLE EAST | JUNE 2012
ThE RISE of
EgypT’S WoRkERS
Joel Beinin
MIDDLE EAST | JUNE 2012
© 2012 Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. All rights reserved.
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CP 149
Contents
Acronyms
v
Summary
1
Labor Finds a Voice
3
The Labor Movement Under Mubarak
3
Economic and Political Demands
5
Workers and the 2011 Popular Uprising
7
Workers Turn to Politics
8
Workers’ Gains
10
Tensions in the Labor Movement
16
The Parliamentary Arena
17
Where Do We Go From Here?
19
Notes
21
About the Author
25
Carnegie Endowement for International Peace
26
Acronyms
CTUWS—Center for Trade Union and Workers’ Services
ECESR—Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights
EDLC—Egyptian Democratic Labor Congress
EFITU—Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions
ETUF—Egyptian Trade Union Federation
IGURETA—Independent General Union of Real Estate Tax
Authority Workers
NDP—National Democratic Party
SPA—Socialist Popular Alliance Party
SCAF—Supreme Council of the Armed Forces
v
Summary
Workers have long sought to bring change to the Egyptian system, yet the
independent labor movement has only recently begun to find a nationwide
voice. As Egypt’s sole legal trade union organization and an arm of the state
for nearly sixty years, the Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF) has had
a monopoly on representing workers. Though its mission is to control workers as much as it is to represent them, ETUF has been unable to prevent the
militant labor dissidence that has escalated since the late 1990s. Workers were
by far the largest component of the burgeoning culture of protest in the 2000s
that undermined the legitimacy of the Mubarak regime.
Workers have largely been concerned about economic issues that gained
salience as Egypt accelerated the privatization of public enterprises. Until
2010, only a small minority of labor activists advanced democratization as a
strategic objective. Commonly seeking to co-opt rather than openly contest
the regime’s power, the independent labor movement was unprepared to take
the lead when unrest swept through the Arab world in January 2011. It had
no nationally recognized leadership, few organizational or financial resources,
limited international support, no political program, and only a minimal economic program.
Despite this, workers were quick to mobilize in the early stages of the
groundswell that eventually unseated Hosni Mubarak, and they deserve more
credit for his ouster than they typically receive. Soon after the uprising began,
workers violated ETUF’s legal monopoly on trade union organization and
formed the Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions (EFITU)—
the first new institution to emerge from the revolt. Labor mobilization continued at an unprecedented level during 2011 and early 2012, and workers
established hundreds of new, independent enterprise-level unions. They also
secured a substantially higher minimum wage.
Yet, though the labor movement has made headway, problems persist.
New unions face funding difficulties and the independent labor movement
is internally divided. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF)—
the ultimate power in Egypt since Mubarak’s demise—and ETUF have both
repeatedly asserted their power to oppose independent unions and have scored
some successes. The movement has a very limited presence in the emerging
institutions of the post-Mubarak state and is thus left without much leverage
to fend off attacks from its political opponents.
Going forward, the independent labor movement should consider looking
beyond street protests over immediate grievances, where it has achieved its
1
greatest successes, and begin training enterprise-level leaderships and forging
political coalitions with sympathetic sections of the intelligentsia. Independent
trade unions remain the strongest nationally organized force confronting the
autocratic tendencies of the old order. If they can solidify and expand their
gains, they could be an important force leading Egypt toward a more democratic future.
Labor Finds a Voice
Egyptian workers played an important part in bringing down the regime of
Hosni Mubarak, though they did not make the headlines. They not only had
a substantial presence in the mass demonstrations of January and February
2011, but strikes, which escalated after 1998, played a major role in delegitimizing the regime and popularizing a culture of protest.
Since Mubarak’s departure, workers have broken the
long-dominant, state-controlled Egyptian Trade Union Strikes played a major role in
Federation’s stranglehold on labor organization and have delegitimizing the regime and
begun to form new, democratic, independent unions and popularizing a culture of protest.
federations. Strikes and other collective actions continued
throughout 2011 and into 2012 at unprecedented levels.
However, entrenched military and former Mubarak regime forces have
attempted, with some success, to maintain their power, reverse the gains
of independent trade unions, and block the entry of new and unpredictable
forces into the political arena. The democratic labor movement is struggling
to present a united front, but is, in fact, divided. And despite their role in overthrowing Mubarak, workers and their interests were not well represented in
Egypt’s first (and subsequently dissolved) post-Mubarak parliament, nor did
they comprise a clearly defined factor in the 2012 presidential election.
The Labor Movement Under Mubarak
Since its creation in 1957 the Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF) has
been the sole legal trade union organization in Egypt, a status formalized
in Law 35 of 1976. It has also been an arm of the state, notwithstanding the
dramatic changes in economic and social policy since the 1950s. In the 2000s,
ETUF claimed a membership of 3.8 million out of a wage labor force of about
27 million. Almost all its members work in the government or public business sectors of the economy, as ETUF’s structure is predicated on the dominance of the public sector created in the era of President Gamal Abdel Nasser
(1954–1970).
ETUF’s mission was to control workers as much as it was to represent them.
But, it was unable to prevent militant labor dissidence in the late Mubarak era.
From 1998 to 2010, well over 2 million and perhaps as many as 4 million
Egyptian workers participated in some 3,400 to 4,000 strikes and other collective actions.1 Those protests played a major role in delegitimizing the regime
3
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The Rise of Egypt’s Workers
in the eyes of many Egyptians—long before the mass demonstrations that led
to the ouster of Hosni Mubarak in February 2011.
Workers’ grievances were rooted in their opposition to
the drive toward the privatization of public sector enterWorkers’ grievances were rooted in prises, which began with President Anwar al-Sadat’s proctheir opposition to the drive toward the lamation of the “Open Door” economic policy in 1974.
privatization of public sector enterprises, Since then, successive Egyptian governments, reluctantly
and haltingly at first, set about restructuring the economy
which began with President Anwar following the “Washington Consensus” economic model
al-Sadat’s proclamation of the “Open advocated by the International Monetary Fund, the World
Door” economic policy in 1974. Bank, and the U.S. government. In June 1991 the government of President Hosni Mubarak signed Economic
Restructuring and Structural Adjustment Program
(ERSAP) agreements with the IMF and the World Bank; Law 203 of 1991
established the framework for privatizing 314 public enterprises.
After resisting or equivocating about proposals to expand the private sector at the expense of the public sector for a decade and a half, the ETUF
leadership accepted the ERSAP and Law 203.2 ETUF similarly resisted but
ultimately acquiesced to the enactment of the Unified Labor Law of 2003. A
significant provision of that legislation radically altered the prevailing practice
of giving workers tenured employment after a trial period by allowing employers to engage workers indefinitely on “temporary” fixed-term contracts and
to dismiss them at the termination of those contracts at their sole discretion.
This “flexibility” in the labor market was considered necessary to attract
foreign investment. But it eliminated the job security workers had come to
expect in the Nasser era. Because the number of new private sector jobs was
much smaller than the number of new entrants to the labor market and public
sector jobs were eliminated, this became an issue of frequent and sometimes
bitter contention.
The ETUF leadership succeeded in inserting clauses into the new legislation prohibiting mass firings after privatization of a public sector firm and
providing compensation to workers harmed by privatization. But these aspects
of the laws were poorly enforced.3
ETUF raised no public objection to the installation in July 2004 of what
came to be known as “the government of businessmen” led by Prime Minister
Ahmad Nazif. Nazif’s mandate was to accelerate the neoliberal transformation of the economy and the sell-off of the public sector. He succeeded. The
World Bank enthusiastically praised Egypt’s efforts at economic “reform” and
repeatedly designated it a top-ten “most improved reformer.” 4
Though ETUF’s top leadership acquiesced to the makeover of the economy, many rank-and-file members did not. Immediately after the Nazif government took power, contentious action escalated. The highest estimate of the
total number of labor protests from 1988 to 1993 is 162—an average of 27 per
Joel Beinin
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5
year.5 From 1998 to 2003 the annual average for collective actions rose to 118.
But in 2004 there were 265 collective actions; over 70 percent occurred after
the Nazif government took office in July. The movement was initially centered
in the textile industry, which had been targeted for privatization, but by 2007
it encompassed virtually every industry, public services, transport, civil servants, and professionals.
Despite the escalating protests it could not control, ETUF remained the
dominant nominal representative of organized labor. On the eve of the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak on February 11, 2011, there were only three
trade unions independent of direct control by the regime.
The largest and most influential by far was the Independent
General Union of Real Estate Tax Authority Workers
Despite the escalating protests it could
(IGURETA)—representing clerical workers employed by
not control, the Egyptian Trade Union
local authorities. The movement leading to the formation
of the independent union began in the fall of 2007, when Federation remained the dominant nominal
Real Estate Tax Authority workers formed a national strike representative of organized labor.
committee led by Kamal Abu ‘Ayta to lead a coordinated
campaign in support of their demand for wage parity with
tax workers employed directly by the Ministry of Finance, whose salaries were
far higher. The disparity arose due a bureaucratic reorganization several years
earlier, which created a group of poorly paid clerical workers employed by local
authorities with fewer resources than the central government.
The campaign culminated in an eleven-day occupation of the street in front
of the offices of the cabinet in downtown Cairo. Some 8,000 workers and
their families resolved to remain until the demand for wage parity was met.
Astonishingly, Minister of Finance Yusif Boutrus Ghali capitulated; the Real
Estate Tax Authority workers won a 325 percent wage increase.
Building on the momentum of this achievement, the strike committee
spent the following year organizing an independent union. By December
2008, over 30,000 of some 50,000 clerical workers employed by local authorities throughout Egypt joined the new union. The Ministry of Manpower and
Migration (that is, labor) unexpectedly (and technically, illegally) recognized
the new union in April 2009—the first trade union independent of the regime
in over half a century. Independent unions of health-care technicians and
teachers were also founded before the end of 2010.
Economic and Political Demands
Although they received far less attention than middle-class pro-democracy
movements like Kifaya, workers were by far the largest component of the
burgeoning culture of protest of the 2000s that undermined the legitimacy
of the Mubarak regime. But until 2010 only a small minority of workers
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The Rise of Egypt’s Workers
advanced democratization as a strategic objective. Striking
Striking or protesting workers commonly or protesting workers commonly sought to co-opt rather
than openly contest the regime’s power by calling on
sought to co-opt rather than openly
Mubarak or a cabinet minister to visit them and hear
contest the regime’s power by calling their grievances.
on Mubarak or a cabinet minister to
Only in rare instances, like the September 2007 strike of
visit them and hear their grievances. 22,000 workers at Misr Spinning and Weaving Company
(known as Ghazl al-Mahalla), did workers raise overtly
political demands. During the strike, Sayyid Habib, a member of the elected strike committee, told Voice of America Radio, “We are challenging the regime” (September 28, 2007). Another strike committee member,
Muhammad al-‘Attar, told a mass meeting of workers, “Politics and workers’
rights are inseparable. Work is politics by itself. What we are witnessing here
right now, this is as democratic as it gets.”6
Building on this success, the Ghazl al-Mahalla strike committee called a
strike for April 6, 2008, to demand a national minimum monthly basic wage
of EGP 1,200 (about $200; a huge increase over the prevailing rate of about
$23). Security forces thwarted the strike through a combination of co-optation
and violent repression. The regime drew a red line at linking local grievances
and national policy and temporarily succeeded in maintaining it.7
However, the struggle for a living wage continued. Khalid ‘Ali, the founding director of the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights, was a
key personality in linking workers’ economic demands to political demands
toward the very end of the Mubarak era. He represented Nagi Rashad, a worker
at the South Cairo Grain Mill, in a suit resulting in a March 2010 court order
requiring the government to establish a “fair” minimum wage. The National
Council on Wages proposed increasing the minimum monthly basic wage to
EGP 400 (about $67). Although far from adequate, this would have been a
substantial increase if the government had enacted the proposal; but it did not.
On May 1, 2010, hundreds of workers and supporters gathered in front of
parliament demanding that the government implement the court order and set
a minimum basic monthly wage of EGP 1,200—a figure popularized since
the aborted 2008 Ghazl al-Mahalla strike. They chanted, “A fair minimum
wage, or let this government go home” and “Down with Mubarak and all
those who raise prices!” Khalid ‘Ali told the press, “The government represents the marriage between authority and money—and this marriage needs to
be broken up. . . . We call for the resignation of Ahmad Nazif’s government
because it works only for businessmen and ignores social justice.”8
Due to a combination of repression and the limited capacities of the local
networks that enabled collective action at the workplace level, explicitly political demands emerged only episodically late in the 2000s. This prevented the
workers’ movement from developing a national leadership or a political program. Because workers typically mistrusted the opposition intelligentsia as
Joel Beinin
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7
outsiders who sought to impose their own agenda, there were only fragile
and intermittent linkages between these two forces. Therefore, when Mubarak
departed, workers could not provide political leadership for the nation, as the
Polish Solidarity union movement did in 1989.
Workers and the 2011 Popular Uprising
Despite their inability to take the lead, workers were quick to mobilize in
the early stages of the groundswell that eventually unseated President Hosni
Mubarak, and they deserve more credit for his ouster than
they are typically given. One of the less noticed events of
the popular uprising was the formation of the Egyptian
Workers deserve more credit for Mubarak’s
Federation of Independent Trade Unions (EFITU)—the
first new institution to emerge from the revolt. Its exis- ouster than they are typically given.
tence was announced on January 30, 2011, at a press conference in Cairo’s Tahrir Square—the epicenter of the
popular movement to depose Mubarak. Because establishing EFITU violated
ETUF’s legal monopoly on trade union organization, it was a revolutionary
act—one in which a crime becomes the basis for a new legality.
IGURETA and the independent unions of health-care technicians and
teachers initiated the new federation with support from the Center for Trade
Union and Workers’ Services (CTUWS)—a grassroots NGO focused on labor
issues established in 1990. They were joined by the recently established 8.5 million member retirees’ association and representatives of textile, pharmaceutical, chemical, iron and steel, and automotive workers from industrial zones in
Cairo, Helwan, Mahalla al-Kubra, Tenth of Ramadan City, and Sadat City.
Facilitated by the government’s closure of all workplaces in early February,
many workers participated in the popular uprising as individuals. On February
6 they returned to their jobs; just two days later, EFITU called for a general
strike demanding that Hosni Mubarak relinquish power. Tens of thousands
of workers—including those employed at large and strategic workplaces like
the Cairo Public Transport Authority, Egyptian State Railways, the subsidiary companies of the Suez Canal Authority, the state electrical company, and
Ghazl al-Mahalla—answered the call, engaging in some 60 strikes and protests in the final days before Mubarak’s fall on February 11. As Khalid ‘Ali
explained, “The workers did not start the January 25 movement because they
have no organizing structure. . . . [But] one of the important steps of this
revolution was taken when they began to protest, giving the revolution an
economic and social slant besides the political demands.” 9
According to the Sons of the Land Center for Human Rights, the economic
paralysis created by this strike wave, “was one of the most important factors
leading to the rapidity of . . . Mubarak’s decision to leave.”10 The Supreme
Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) pushed Mubarak aside in what was as
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The Rise of Egypt’s Workers
much a soft military coup as a revolution. This satisfied the majority of demonstrators, at least during the first half of 2011.
But workers continued to protest. At least 150,000 participated in 489 strikes
and other actions during February 2011. EFITU leaders and labor activists
used this momentum to advocate substantive democracy not merely changing the face of the regime. Forty of them met on February 19 and adopted a
proclamation of “Demands of the Workers in the Revolution,” including the
right to form independent trade unions, the right to strike, and the dissolution of ETUF, “one of the most important symbols of corruption under the
defunct regime.” Reflecting a widespread sentiment among workers and the
poor, they asserted:
If this revolution does not lead to the fair distribution of wealth it is not worth
anything. Freedoms are not complete without social freedoms. The right to
vote is naturally dependent on the right to a loaf of bread.11
Workers Turn to Politics
A decade of struggle around economic and trade union issues, participation
in the January 25 popular uprising, and the removal of some (but far from
all) of the repressive constraints of the Mubarak regime gave trade union
activists the confidence to assert political demands that they had previously
mostly avoided. However, many revolutionary activists—
especially young liberals with little political experience
A decade of struggle around economic who had been prominent in the occupation of Tahrir and
and trade union issues, participation in other urban squares—regarded these as “special interest”
( fi’awi) demands rather than proper “national” demands
the January 25 popular uprising, and
and refused to support them during February and March
the removal of some of the repressive 2011, when the opportunity for change was greatest.
constraints of the Mubarak regime gave
Independent trade unionists proceeded nonetheless,
trade union activists the confidence with the support of some allies from the intelligentsia. On
to assert political demands that they March 2, EFITU leaders convened a conference entitled
“What Workers Want from the Revolution.” One of their
had previously mostly avoided.
key demands—rescinding the SCAF’s appointment of
ETUF treasurer Isma‘il Ibrahim Fahmi as interim minister of manpower and migration—was met within two
weeks. Fahmi’s appointment represented no real change from the Mubarak
era. Independent trade unionists vehemently opposed him and proposed
instead Ahmad Hasan al-Bura‘i, a professor of labor law at Cairo University
who had been publicly advocating trade union pluralism for several years.
Al-Bura‘i replaced Fahmi, and on March 12, the newly installed minister
participated in a panel discussion at the Press Syndicate entitled “Know your
Role.” Mustafa Basyuni, a respected leftist labor journalist who reported for
Joel Beinin
the opposition daily al-Dustur in the 2000s and became labor editor for the new
daily Tahrir, which positions itself as the “voice of the revolution,” moderated.
The speakers were Minister al-Bura‘i, IGURETA president Kamal Abu ‘Ayta,
and the general coordinator of the CTUWS, Kamal ‘Abbas. This scene would
have been unimaginable in the Mubarak era. The daily al-Ahram reported:
With tears in his eyes, El-Borai [al-Bura‘i] stated with resolve that workers
would soon have the right to establish, form and join any trade union of their
choice—trade unions which would remain completely independent of the
ministry. These unions would be able to independently conduct their domestic
affairs, develop regulations, allocate their funds and choose their own leaders.12
The legal basis of al-Bura‘i’s position was that Egypt’s ratification of
International Labor Organization conventions guaranteeing freedom of association and protection of the right to organize (Number 87) and the right
to organize and bargain collectively (Number 98) constituted international
treaty obligations that superseded the national legislation establishing ETUF
as Egypt’s only legal labor union. Therefore, al-Bura‘i recognized EFITU and
scores of newly established independent enterprise-level trade unions.
Empowered by the popular uprising and the political legitimacy of their
organizations, independent trade unionists did not simply rely on the minister
of manpower and migration. The Founding Body of EFITU and the CTUWS
submitted memoranda to the ministry with detailed criticisms of Law 35 of
1976 that established ETUF as the sole legal trade union and proposals for a new
trade union law based on drafts developed by the CTUWS, the Coordinating
Committee for Trade Union and Workers Rights and Liberties, and nearly 40
opposition political parties and NGOs who had inaugurated the campaign
“Together to Unleash the Freedoms, Independence, and Democratization of
Labor Unions” in October 2008.13 EFITU and its allies received support from
the international trade union movement, including the Solidarity Center of the
AFL-CIO, several European trade union federations, and the International
Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), which had been formed in 2006 through
the reorganization of the Cold War–era International Confederation of Free
Trade Unions.
The SCAF responded to the surge of workers’ collective action that had
been unleashed by Mubarak’s demise by issuing Military Decree 34 on March
24. A revised version became Law 34 and set a fine of up to EGP 50,000 (about
$8,333) for anyone participating in or encouraging others to join a sit-in or any
other activity that “prevents, delays or disrupts the work of public institutions
or public authorities.” The penalty increases to EGP 500,000 (about $83,333)
and at least a year’s imprisonment in the event of violence or property damage
that may lead to “destruction of means of production” or harm “national unity
and public security and order.”14
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The Rise of Egypt’s Workers
Acting on a long-standing demand of labor activists, on August 4, 2011,
the Ministry of Manpower and Migration implemented a 2006 court order
ignored by the Mubarak regime that nullified the blatantly fraudulent 2006
national ETUF elections. The ETUF executive board and the boards of
seven of its 23 constituent national general unions were dissolved. The cabinet appointed a 25-member committee including thirteen independent trade
unionists, Muslim Brothers, and ETUF stalwarts to manage ETUF’s affairs
and look into any financial irregularities until new elections could be held.
ETUF treasurer Isma‘il Ibrahim Fahmi, the SCAF’s first appointee as minister of manpower and migration, was appointed head of the committee to
constrain the independents’ scope of action.
The independents sought and continue to demand the total dissolution of
ETUF. But this arrangement created a large space for them to operate and
gain strength, which the SCAF later closed down.
Workers’ Gains
The most important achievement of overthrowing Hosni Mubarak for workers was one they shared with all Egyptians: the recovery of their human dignity and their voices. But many institutions, practices, attitudes, and personnel
of the former regime remain in place. Little Hosni
Mubaraks are still ensconced in thousands of workplaces
The most important achievement and other institutions throughout Egypt, operating with
the same undemocratic, corrupt, clientelistic norms as the
of overthrowing Hosni Mubarak for Mubarak regime and its elites. At best, it will take years for
workers was one they shared with this to be addressed and transformed. But even the lowest
all Egyptians: the recovery of their paid and most marginalized workers now feel they have
human dignity and their voices. the right to challenge existing hierarchies of power and
demand accountability from their government and their
supervisors at work.
A higher minimum wage and a substantial start on institutionalizing independent, democratic trade unions are the most important achievements specific to workers’ interests. Independent trade unions still face the determined
opposition of ETUF, which retains considerable power and has the support of
the SCAF. Another important achievement, though it is primarily symbolic at
this point, is the detention of former ETUF president Husayn Mugawir and
former minister of manpower and migration ‘Ai’isha ‘Abd al-Hadi on charges
of corruption. They are still awaiting trial.
The Minimum Wage and Workers’ Rights
Compensation is the area in which labor activists have made the most tangible
progress. The post-Mubarak interim cabinet increased the monthly minimum
Joel Beinin
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11
basic wage to EGP 700 (about $116) for public sector employees July 1, 2011
effective. Minister of Finance Samir Radwan promised it would rise to EGP
1,200 over the next five years, though in light of the depressed state of the
economy and Radwan’s resignation before the end of the summer, this seems
unlikely. In October 2011 the first-ever private sector minimum wage was established at EGP 700.15
The principle that the government should establish a
minimum wage in the private sector is in and of itself a significant departure from the Sadat-Mubarak era approach The principle that the government should
to attracting capital investment. Yet, change will not nec- establish a minimum wage in the private
essarily be quick in coming. ‘Adil Zakariyya, editor of the sector is in and of itself a significant
CTUWS monthly magazine Kalam Sinaya‘iyya (Workers’ departure from the Sadat-Mubarak era
Talk), maintained that “very few workers will actually
approach to attracting capital investment.
benefit from this decision.”16 In addition to the government’s weak capacity and perhaps also disinclination to
stringently enforce the law, the minimum wage does not
apply to enterprises with less than ten employees—the vast majority of workplaces. Enterprises that present “sufficient proof”—a vague term open to
abuse—that they cannot afford to raise salaries are also exempt. Moreover,
some 40 percent of all labor in Egypt is employed in the “informal sector” that
flies under the government’s radar screen without effective regulation.
Many public and private sector managers treat workers, especially women,
no less contemptuously than they did in the Mubarak era. Changing workplace cultures of disrespect and abuse can be accomplished only by bottom-up
mobilization over a period of time, not by legislation. However, the popular
victory of deposing Mubarak instilled a sense of confidence and assertiveness
in many Egyptians, including workers.
For example, in June 2011 about one hundred former workers, mostly
women, at Mansura-España, a private sector textile firm that went bankrupt
and was eventually sold off in 2010, sought to collect their wages from the
firm’s largest creditor, United Bank. The bank had failed to fulfill its legal
obligation to pay back wages and severance compensation to workers on the
payroll at the time of the sale. Bank employees refused to pay the women,
taunted them, and told them, “Go and block traffic in the streets if you want
your rights.”17 So they did.
A traffic policeman urged a truck driver unable to move his vehicle through
the ensuing traffic jam, “Run them over. The blood money for each one is
EGP 50 (about $8).” The driver drove his truck into two women—Mariam
Hawas, a forty-four-year-old mother of three, and Samah ‘Isa. Mariam died
on the way to the hospital; Samah was badly injured. The truck driver was
charged with causing wrongful death and injury, but released without bail; the
traffic policeman was not found.
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The Rise of Egypt’s Workers
Ten days later the United Bank paid back wages and severance packages to
former Mansura-España workers—two and a half months’ salary for every
year of employment—at a total cost of $62,000.
Despite Mubarak’s demise, the lives of factory women were still regarded
as cheap by constituted authority. What changed is that even low-paid working women no longer accept the low price on their heads. Recovering in the
hospital Samah ‘Isa asked, “How can a life be worth 50 pounds? I don’t see a
future until I get my rights. That’s what I want.”18
Organizing New Labor Unions
EFITU has rapidly organized many new unions unaffiliated with ETUF.
A year after Mubarak’s demise, EFITU claimed a membership of about
200 unions and 2 million blue- and white-collar workers. EFITU has been
most successful among public service workers and is relatively weaker in the
manufacturing sector. Its most important affiliates are the IGURETA and
newly established independent unions of teachers, the Cairo Public Transport
Authority, Egypt Telecom, postal workers, and pilots and aviation workers.19
Developments in Sadat City exemplify both EFITU’s great momentum and
the obstacles it faces. Before 2011 there were only two enterprise-level unions
in the industrial zone of Sadat City, a Special Economic Zone where 50,000
workers are employed in two hundred enterprises. Minimal union presence
was one of many incentives the Mubarak regime provided to entice capital
investment in such zones. As the citadel of former National Democratic Party
(NDP) heavyweight and Mubarak regime strongman Ahmad ‘Izz’s iron and
steel empire, Sadat City is a politically strategic locale. By the end of 2011 it was
home to at least twelve new unions and a citywide labor council affiliated with
EFITU. But such apparent successes do not mean the system has been quick
or eager to adjust to workers’ newfound empowerment.
The organizations in Sadat City were established through bottom-up mobilization, including several locally initiated strikes and demonstrations in May
and June 2011. In early May, hundreds of workers demonstrated for several
days in a row at the Gemma (Gawhara) Ceramics and Porcelain Company
owned by Ahmad ‘Izz, demanding a minimum monthly wage of EGP 1,200,
the right to form a union, permanent appointments for 670 workers on temporary contracts, and other economic demands. On May 7, 9,000 workers
at Beshay Steel went on strike to demand payment of the 15 percent bonus
recently announced by the minister of finance. Most returned to work the next
day with their demands satisfied. But management argued that the bonus did
not apply to the 1,500 workers employed on fixed-term contracts (the ministerial announcement was not specific about this) and did not allow them to
return to work.20 Dividing permanent and temporary workers has been a common management strategy.
Joel Beinin
In May and again in June, for at least the sixth time in four or five years,
5,000 workers at the Turkish-owned Mega Textile factory struck over economic demands. As in several strikes of the 2000s, resentment over foreign
managers, discrimination in favor of foreign workers (Indian and Bangladeshi
in this case), and the humiliation of women escalated tensions. In October,
management dismissed 43 members of Mega Textile’s new union, and the
workers, who had begun a sit-in in front of the factory gates, were attacked
by military police. In November Mega Textile workers demonstrated in front
of the Turkish embassy in Cairo and at ETUF headquarters. Striking workers at seven other Sadat City firms expressed their support for the fired Mega
Textile trade unionists. But it did not appear that they would be rehired any
time soon.21
Scores of new independent unions were established in 2011 and early 2012,
many in workplaces with no tradition of trade unionism of any kind. But not
all those employed in newly unionized enterprises joined them. Fear of retaliation, as at Mega Textile and Beshay Steel, posed major obstacles to unionization or protest of any kind.
Legal and organizational hurdles are also significant. Private sector employers typically do not recognize or bargain with a union unless strike action
brings the government to intervene. Moreover, there has been no legal framework for enterprise-level collective bargaining in Egypt since the 1950s. All
labor agreements have been centralized and supervised by the state in collaboration with ETUF. Rank-and-file workers have not been involved in such
agreements and therefore have little experience in conducting the most basic
functions of a trade union.
Funding new unions also poses problems. Independent unions must
collect dues from every individual member each month, while ETUF still
receives dues by an automatic deduction from wages, even from those who
have expressly resigned their membership. The central ETUF bureaucracy
controls the social funds of its constituent unions, which provide pensions
and other valuable benefits. New, independent unions have no access to these
funds, even if all or most of their membership consists of former members
of ETUF-affiliated unions, as is the case with the Real Estate Tax Authority
clerical workers, Cairo Transport Authority workers, teachers, postal workers,
and others. IGURETA gained partial control of its social fund in 2009, but
ETUF ultimately restored its full control.
On the political level, the independent labor movement faces the opposition
of the ETUF leadership, the SCAF, and the Muslim Brothers. Independent
unions still have insufficient organizational, financial, and political capacity to
resist such opposition successfully on many issues.
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Entrenched Powers
The SCAF and ETUF have repeatedly asserted their power to oppose independent unions and have scored some successes.
So far, the SCAF-inspired law that sought to prevent sit-ins and violent protests has only been enforced once, on June 29, when a military court sentenced
five workers at Petrojet, an oil and gas services company operated by the
Ministry of Petroleum, to one-year suspended prison sentences. The workers
had occupied the public space in front of the ministry for two weeks demanding that 200 workers employed for years on a temporary basis be granted
permanent status. Despite their convictions, the occupiers did not apparently
violate the law—they had not disrupted work; they positioned themselves to
allow access to the building; and they did not cause any damage. The harsh
sentence and its suspension suggest that the SCAF was attempting to maintain a balance between enforcing its authority, which was flagrantly flouted
by almost daily strikes and demonstrations, and provoking workers to even
stronger forms of contention. By the end of 2011 many workers along with
other Egyptians concluded that the SCAF did not seek “to fulfill the goals of
the revolution,” as it claimed, but to contain the popular upsurge by embracing only its lowest common denominator demand—the removal of Mubarak.
ETUF has fought to restore its monopoly on trade union organization, and,
with support from the SCAF, has regained much of the ground it lost in the
aftermath of the popular upsurge. As the Mubarak regime did, ETUF bureaucrats have harassed CTUWS coordinator Kamal ‘Abbas with a frivolous lawsuit. After a contentious encounter with Isma‘il Ibrahim Fahmi at the June
2011 International Labor Conference, ‘Abbas was sentenced in absentia to six
months in prison for “insulting a public officer”—a vague charge similar to
those commonly made against Mubarak-era opposition figures.
On November 19, in the midst of the reoccupation of Tahrir Square and
the political upheaval prompted by the publication of the Selmy document—a
trial balloon floated by the SCAF in an effort to protect the army’s privileges
by blocking civilian oversight of military matters—four national-level unions
loyal to ETUF declared a strike. Their aim was to force Minister of Manpower
and Migration al-Bura‘i to restore the powers of the ETUF executive board
and dismiss the committee he had appointed to manage ETUF. The ETUF
loyalists were apparently piqued by the attempt of independents on the committee to remove Ahmad ‘Abd al-Zahir, who had become its chair, because
of his alleged responsibility for organizing the attack on demonstrators in
Tahrir Square on February 2—the infamous “Battle of the Camel.” Al-Bura‘i
surrendered and restored the entire Mubarak-era ETUF leadership, except for
President Husayn Mugawir.22 This was his last act—one which contradicted
his long-held public positions. Al-Bura‘i and the entire cabinet resigned in
protest over the SCAF’s refusal to allow the cabinet to govern and its repeated
violent repression of street protests.
Joel Beinin
ETUF stalwarts will therefore organize the next national trade union elections, which were due to be held on November 27, 2011. They were postponed
several times to avoid interference with parliamentary and presidential elections and are now scheduled for the second half of 2012. The yet undetermined procedures will determine whether or not ETUF can be transformed
into a representative institution. However, that outcome is unlikely. The elections will be supervised by Isma‘il Ibrahim Fahmi, who was reappointed minister of manpower and migration by the SCAF in May 2012. Independent
trade unionists have not been able to force his removal, as they did in March
2011—a measure of their loss of clout in the national political arena.
The SCAF also refused to allow the interim cabinet to enact the new trade
union law prepared by al-Bura‘i and his staff before his resignation. The draft
law would have recognized non–ETUF-affiliated unions, authorized any
group of 50 or more workers to form a union, and permitted multiple unions
in a single workplace. Subsequently, three legislative proposals were brought
to committees of the first post-Mubarak People’s Assembly. One was based
on the draft prepared by al-Bura‘i and supported by EFITU, the Egyptian
Democratic Labor Congress (EDLC), the CTUWS, and the Egyptian Center
for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR). The second, supported by ETUF
loyalists, would have restored ETUF’s monopoly on trade union organization and allowed leaders to serve until the age of seventy, thereby preserving
the power of those currently in office. The Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom
and Justice Party, which had the most seats in the first parliament, backed a
proposal that would allow only one trade union in an enterprise but legalize unions outside the framework of ETUF. This proposal would have given
an advantage to the ancien régime ETUF bureaucrats, because they already
control some 1,400 more enterprise-level unions than their competitors, vast
resources, and a bloated staff.
The only legislative proposal that conformed to the ILO conventions
Egypt has ratified is the one prepared by former minister al-Bura‘i. EFITU,
the CTUWS, and the ECESR have lobbied hard for its enactment. EFITU
claims that failure to enact such a law resulted in the International Labor
Organization once again placing Egypt on its list of “special cases.”23
The most extreme example of the SCAF’s opposition to independent trade
unionism was its effort to break the strike of Delta Bus Company workers,
which began on February 23, 2012. When negotiations between the army
and strikers broke down, the SCAF ordered the army to deploy a fleet of its
own buses. The strike was ended on March 5 with a promise to bring the
workers’ wages and benefits to parity with those employed by the Ministry of
Transportation by July 2012.24
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Tensions in the Labor Movement
The independent labor movement is facing internal divisions over a combination of differing strategic visions, disputes over organizational issues, and
political issues that have not been explicitly articulated.
IGURETA President Kamal Abu ‘Ayta, who was elected to a full term as
EFITU president in January 2012, represents one trend. He and his followers
sought to rapidly position themselves as spokespersons for as many workers as
possible. They believed that this would enable EFITU to deal with the SCAF
and other political forces from a position of power while the political situation
was fluid and open to promoting workers’ interests. Given EFITU’s limited
staff and resources, setting this priority meant devoting less time to building
up the strength of the enterprise-level unions comprising EFITU or training
their leaderships.
Abu ‘Ayta has for years been a leading member of the Nasserist Karama
(Dignity) Party, which was not recognized by the Mubarak regime. In the
2011 parliamentary elections, Karama joined the Muslim Brotherhood–
led Democratic Alliance, and Abu ‘Ayta won a parliamentary seat. Several
other EFITU leaders also ran for parliament on other party tickets but were
not elected.
The second trend is represented by Kamal ‘Abbas and the CTUWS staff.
They have focused on slowly educating workers in democratic trade unionism
from the bottom up rather than high politics. ‘Abbas and the CTUWS believe
that this approach is the only long-term guarantee of a democratic regime.
Consequently, they prioritized that task over entering the parliamentary political arena.
After his years in the illegal People’s Revolutionary Party during the 1990s,
‘Abbas abandoned party politics. But he is highly suspicious of the Muslim
Brothers because of their history of anti-union activities reaching back to
the 1940s and their positions on gender relations. Because he was dismissed
from the Helwan Iron and Steel Company for leading two strikes in 1989,
’Abbas has not been a member of any union. On that basis, some argued
that ‘Abbas should have no decisionmaking role in EFITU, despite his two
decades of work to make possible its creation. They also maintained that since
the CTUWS is an NGO, not a union, it should not be a member of EFITU.
Each approach has its limitations. While ‘Abbas may be faulted for insufficiently appreciating the possibilities of the post-Mubarak moment, Abu ‘Ayta
was perhaps too quick to imagine that the arena of high politics was the key to
securing workers’ interests. In principle, there is no reason why the high political and the bottom-up approaches could not be pursued in tandem. But, the
combination of limited personnel and resources, the rapidly changing political
circumstances, and personal rivalry between two strong, charismatic leaders
resulted in an organizational split.
Joel Beinin
‘Abbas, the CTUWS, and others who shared their vision withdrew from
EFITU. On October 14, 2011, they convened the inaugural meeting of the
EDLC with 149 unions represented.25 By January 2012 the EDLC claimed
214 affiliated unions with a membership of over 1 million.26 Although in many
respects it fulfills that function, the EDLC does not consider itself a trade
union federation but a broad labor-oriented coalition. Its affiliates include
independent unions, some in major manufacturing enterprises, NGOs including the New Woman Foundation and the Egyptian Association for Enhancing
Community Participation, and individuals.
A year after Mubarak’s departure, EFITU and EDLC claimed a combined
membership of about 3 million—an impressive number compared to ETUF’s
3.8 million members in the Mubarak era. But this is surely an exaggeration.
ETUF’s membership was based on over 1,800 unions, an average membership
of about 2,000 per union. Three million members in 400 unions would mean
an average local union membership of 7,500, far too many given the small size
of the great majority of Egyptian workplaces.
Discord at the national leadership level admirably did not descend to public name-calling and other unprincipled tactics. Nor did it impede continued
labor mobilization. The government reported 335 collective actions in 2011.27
But according to the monthly surveys of the Sons of the Land Association for
Human Rights, which has tallied workers’ contentious actions reported in the
press for years, there were over 1,400 collective actions during 2011 involving at least 600,000 workers—two to three times more than any year in the
previous decade.
The Parliamentary Arena
Despite the important role workers played in delegitimizing the Mubarak
regime and the continuing mobilization of workers, the independent labor
movement has not been able to make significant gains in the national political
arena. It has had a very limited presence in the emerging institutions of the
post-Mubarak state—such as the Constituent Assembly and the first parliament—that it might leverage to fend off attacks from its political opponents.
Two parties claiming to defend workers’ interests—the Mubarak-era
National Progressive Unionist Party (Tagammu’) and the newly established
Social Democratic Party—joined the Egyptian Bloc electoral alliance led by
the liberal Free Egyptians Party established by Egypt’s wealthiest tycoon,
Nagib Sawiris. As a Copt, Sawiris embraces a “civil state”—political code
for secularism, a taboo word in Egyptian politics. But as a businessman he
does not support labor. In July 2011, the Free Egyptians Party endorsed the
government’s anti-strike legislation. Moreover, the Egyptian Bloc did not
stand unequivocally against the old regime. The Tagammu’ had collaborated
with the NDP in opposing the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists; the
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The Rise of Egypt’s Workers
Socialist Popular Alliance Party (SPA) and the Egyptian Socialist Party left
the Egyptian Bloc over charges that it permitted former NDP members to
occupy influential positions. The Tagammu’ and the Social Democrats were
attempting to build as large a secularist parliamentary bloc as possible and
believed this justified allying with a billionaire. But many workers did not
accept this logic.
About twenty-five members of the first parliament were likely to be consistent supporters of workers’ interests—out of a total of 508 seats. The prolabor bloc comprised the Revolution Continues Alliance with nine seats; the
Nasserist Karama Party with six, including Kamal Abu ‘Ayta; the Tagammu‘
with four; several of the sixteen Social Democrats; and perhaps a few others. The Revolution Continues—an alliance of socialists, liberals, and Islamist
youth—is the most important new parliamentary party representing workers
interests to emerge from the popular uprising. The SPA is the largest element in the alliance, which also includes the Egyptian Socialist Party, supporters of Mohamed ElBaradei and other liberal groups, some former Muslim
Brotherhood youth, the Revolutionary Youth Coalition, and April 6 Youth
Movement members.
Some of the electoral procedures established during the Nasser-SadatMubarak era limited workers’ access to the first post-Mubarak parliament.
Law 38 of 1972 requires that 50 percent of the People’s Assembly be comprised of “workers and peasants.” But it effectively excludes most workers and
pro-labor candidates from running in that category because it defines a worker
as, “a person who depends mainly on his income from his manual or mental
work in agriculture, industry, or services. He shall not be a member [an office
holder] of a trade union, or recorded in the commercial register, or a holder of
a high academic qualification.” Consequently, many people who are not commonly considered workers, as long as they do not have advanced degrees and
are not professionals, such as small or medium business owners, may run as
“workers” for the People’s Assembly. Very few rank-and-file workers have the
money or name recognition to win a parliamentary seat. But Kamal Abu ‘Ayta
could not run for a “workers” seat because he is union office holder.28
SPA member Fatma Ramadan, one of only three women out of 21 members of the EFITU executive board, attempted to run as a “worker.” But the
courts refused to recognize EFITU-issued documents certifying her as a
union member. Naturally, ETUF refused to provide her with documents that
the courts would recognize. She was compelled to withdraw her candidacy—
a stark example of the obstacles faced by independent trade unionists in the
political arena.
The Labor Committee of the first post-Mubarak People’s Assembly was
chaired by Freedom and Justice Party deputy Sabr Abu al-Futtuh, a manager in a petroleum sector enterprise. During the Mubarak era he occasionally expressed verbal support for striking workers, but the Muslim Brothers
Joel Beinin
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never mobilized even a fraction of their vast resources to support strikers.
The Brotherhood’s deputy general guide, Khairat al-Shater (who was disqualified from running for president), and Hasan Malik, founder of the Islamicoriented Egyptian Business Development Association—“Brothers of the 1
percent” as Bloomberg Businessweek termed them—will be the most influential
figures shaping the economic and social policies of the Freedom and Justice
Party.29 They may be less corrupt, preserve more elements of the public sector,
and empower a different group of businessmen than the Mubarak regime. But
their pro-business credentials are solid.
Where Do We Go From Here?
The underrepresentation of workers in the first postMubarak parliament reflected the broader phenomenon that the forces who worked longest and hardest to The underrepresentation of workers
overthrow Mubarak did not reap commensurate politi- in the first post-Mubarak parliament
cal rewards. Because of the low visibility of workers and reflected the broader phenomenon that
social justice issues in parliament, on February 29 Khalid
the forces who worked longest and
‘Ali resigned as director of the ECESR and announced his
candidacy for the presidency. He did not expect to win, hardest to overthrow Mubarak did not
and in fact received only 0.6 percent in the first round reap commensurate political rewards.
balloting of May 2012. But he and his supporters believed
that the campaign was a vehicle for placing the issues of
workers, peasants, and the poor on the political agenda. Another solid supporter of workers’ interests, SPA leader Abu al-‘Izz al-Hariri, received a mere
0.2 percent of the votes.
Kamal Abu ‘Ayta and several other trade unionists supported the Nasserist
Karama Party candidate Hamdeen Sabbahi. He came in a surprisingly close
third with 20.7 percent of the vote, winning support from many workers,
leftists, and liberals as “the most electable non-Mubarak regime secularist candidate.” Historically, the Nasser regime destroyed democratic trade unionism
in Egypt. Nonetheless, Sabbahi’s platform was certainly more worker friendly
than the Freedom and Justice Party’s Mohamed Morsi, or the SCAF’s best
hope, Ahmed Shafiq, who placed one and two respectively in the first round.
Morsi’s victory in the June 2012 runoff and his installation as the first postMubarak president of Egypt may reorder the terrain of national politics despite
the SCAF’s hasty attempt to eviscerate the powers of the president. But it will
not, in and of itself, open that terrain to workers.
Despite their weakness in the first post-Mubarak parliament and the presidential contest, in addition to their lack of political unity, independent trade
unions are nonetheless the strongest nationally organized force confronting
the autocratic tendencies of the SCAF, the continuing power of institutions
of the Mubarak regime, and the failed market fundamentalist policies that
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The Rise of Egypt’s Workers
Egypt will be under pressure to maintain in order to receive needed assistance from international financial institutions. But this is not yet saying much.
Independent trade unionists have only a year and a half of experience operating on a national level and have already split. The SCAF and even many
“revolutionaries” have persistently argued that workers’ demands are “selfish”
or “special interest” demands, not legitimate national political demands.
Most importantly, no major party or national political figure or trade union
leader has yet proposed a comprehensive program that would provide both
sustainable economic growth and human development. Renationalizing
some recently privatized enterprises—a common demand of labor activists, Nasserists, and the Left, which the SCAF and the interim government
opposed—may address some egregious cases of corruption and abuse of
workers. But this alone will not increase capital investment, productivity, and competitiveness, overhaul the
dysfunctional educational system, or provide good jobs at
Workers will have no option but continuing a living wage for Egypt’s youth.
contentious collective action in the
The failure to enact new trade union legislation, the
period ahead to maintain and perhaps reappointment of Isma‘il Ibrahim Fahmi as minister of
expand their post-Mubarak gains. manpower and migration, and the breaking of the strike
at the Delta Bus Company indicate that the SCAF is
determined to limit the development of an independent
trade union movement or thwart it entirely. The Muslim
Brotherhood has not opposed the SCAF on this issue, and its history and the
social character of its current leadership suggest that it will not. Workers will,
therefore, have no option but continuing contentious collective action in the
period ahead to maintain and perhaps expand their post-Mubarak gains. And
they are doing so. In the first half of 2012 workers in the postal service, Cairo
public transport, the Railway Authority, court and prosecution services, and
the ports of Alexandria and ‘Ayn Sukhna mounted high-profile strikes. There
were 258 workers’ collective actions during two two-week periods surveyed by
the ECESR in April and May 2012.
Moving beyond street protests over immediate grievances, independent
trade unionists will need to strengthen the new institutions they have established, train enterprise-level leaderships, and forge political coalitions with
sympathetic sections of the intelligentsia in order to achieve the goals articulated in the January 25 slogan—“Bread, Freedom, Social Justice.”
Notes
1
Joel Beinin, The Struggle for Worker Rights in Eg ypt (Washington, D.C.: Solidarity
Center, 2010); Joel Beinin, “Workers and Egypt’s January 25 Revolution,”
International Labor and Working Class History, no. 80 (2011): 189–96; Joel Beinin, “A
Workers’ Social Movement on the Margin of the Global Neoliberal Order, Egypt
2004–2009,” in Social Movements, Mobilization, and Contestation in the Middle East and
North Africa, edited by Joel Beinin and Frédéric Vairel (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford
University Press, 2011).
2
Marsha Pripstein Posusney, Labor and the State in Eg ypt: Workers, Unions, and Economic
Restructuring, 1952–1996 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997), 180–230.
3
Marsha Pripstein Posusney, “Globalization and Labor Protection in Oil-Poor Arab
Countries: Racing to the Bottom?” Global Social Policy 3, no. 3 (2003): 267–77.
4
World Bank, “Most Improved Business Reformers in DB 2008,” Washington, D.C.:
World Bank, 2009; “Most Improved Business Reformers in DB 2009,” Washington,
D.C.: World Bank, 2010; “Most Improved Business Reformers in DB 2010,”
Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 2011.
5
Hishaam D. Aidi, Redeploying the State: Corporatism, Neoliberalism, and Coalition
Politics (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009), 142–43; see also Omar El Shafei,
“Workers, Trade Unions, and the State in Egypt: 1984–1989,” Cairo Papers in Social
Science 18, no. 2 (1995): 20 and Nicola Christine Pratt, The Legacy of the Corporatist
State: Explaining Workers’ Responses to Economic Liberalisation in Eg ypt (Durham:
University of Durham, Centre for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, 1998), 70 for
lower figures.
6
Liam Stack and Maram Mazen, “Striking Mahalla Workers Demand Govt. Fulfill
Broken Promises,” Daily Star Eg ypt, September 27, 2007.
7
Joel Beinin, “L’Egypte des ventres vides,” Le Monde Diplomatique, May 2008.
8
Lina Atallah, “Workers, Activists Demand National Minimum Wage,” Eg ypt
Independent, May 2, 2010, www.egyptindependent.com/node/38584.
9
Raphaël Kempf, “Egypt: First Democracy, Then a Pay Rise,” Le Monde Diplomatique,
March 2011.
10 Mu’assasat Awlad al-Ard li-Huquq al-Insan, Hisad al-haraka al-’ummaliyya fi al-nisf alawal min ‘amm 2011 (Cairo: 2011).
11 Kamal Abu ‛Ayta et al., “Matalib al-‘ummal fi al-thawra,” February 19, 2001,
www.e-socialists.net/node/6509.
12 Yassin Gaber, “Egypt Labor Minister Declares the End of Government
Domination of Trade Unions.” Ahramonline, March 14, 2001, http://english.
21
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The Rise of Egypt’s Workers
ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/7652/Egypt/Politics-/Egypt-Labor-ministerdeclares-the-end-of-governmen.aspx.
13 Khalid ‛Ali, Hamlat ma‘an min ajl itlaq al-hurriyat al-niqabiyya wa-istiqlal al-niqabat al’ummaliyya wa-dimuqratiyyatiha (Cairo: Hisham Mubarak Law Center, 2009).
14 Amnesty International, “Egyptian Authorities Must Allow Peaceful Protest and the
Right to Strike.” April 30, 2011, www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/egyptianauthorities-must-allow-peaceful-protest-and-right-strike-2011-04-30.
15 Ahmed Feteha, “Egypt’s Private Sector Minimum Wage Just an ‘Initial Step’:
Official,” Ahramonline, October 23, 2011, http://english.ahram.org.eg/
NewsContent/3/12/24919/Business/Economy/Egypts-private-sector-minimumwage-just-an-initial.aspx.
16 Cam McGrath, “Egyptians Launch New Battle for Minimum Wage,” Inter Press
Service News, November 21, 2011, http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=105908.
17 Marjorie Olster, “In Egypt, Fighting For a US$50—Month Factory Job,”
Ahramonline, July 16, 2011, http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContentP/1/16583/
Egypt/In-Egypt,-fighting-for-a-amonth-factory-job.aspx.
18 Ibid.
19 Jano Charbel, “A Year in Review: The Labor Battle Continues,” Eg ypt Independent,
December 31, 2011, www.egyptindependent.com/news/year-review-laborbattle-continues; Anne Alexander “The Egyptian Workers’ Movement and the
25 January Revolution.” International Socialism 133, 2012, www.isj.org.uk/index.
php4?id=778&issue=133; Anne Alexander, “The Workers’ Movement in Egypt,”
Socialist Review, March 2012, http://socialistworker.org/print/blog/critical-reading/2012/03/09/where-egyptian-revolution-goin; Ben Moxham, “Egypt’s New
Labor Movement Comes of Age,” AFL-CIO Blog, February 1, 2012, www.aflcio.
org/Blog/Organizing-Bargaining/Egypt-s-New-Labor-Movement-Comes-of-Age.
20 Marwa Hussein, “Industrial Protests Rumble on in Sadat City,” Ahramonline,
May 8, 2011, http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/3/12/11649/Business/
Economy/Industrial-protests-rumble-on-in-Sadat-city.aspx.
21 Egytex.com News, “Turkish Mega Textile Workers’ Strike in El Sadat City Shows
No Sign of Ending,” May 13, 2011, www.egytex.com/news/2895; Yassin Gaber,
“Egypt’s Labour Movement Takes a Tumble,” Ahramonline, December 10, 2011,
http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/28840.aspx; Marwa Hussein, “Mega Textile
Workers’ Strike in El Sadat City Shows no Sign of Ending,” Ahramonline, May 12,
2011, http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/3/12/11975/Business/Economy/
Mega-textile-workers-strike-in-El-Sadat-city-shows.aspx; Marwa Hussein,
“Industrial Protests Rumble on in Sadat City,” Ahramonline, May 8, 2011, http://
english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/3/12/11649/Business/Economy/Industrialprotests-rumble-on-in-Sadat-city.aspx; Maggie Hyde, “Medinat Sadat Factory Strike
Sheds Light on Labor Revolution,” Eg ypt Independent, June 5, 2011, www.egyptindependent.com/news/medinat-sadat-factory-strike-sheds-light-labor-revolution;
Yassin Gaber, “Mega Textile Workers Denied Entrance to Factory,” Ahramonline,
October 9, 2011, http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/23695.aspx.
22 Yasmine Fathi, “ETUF Workers Stage Sit-in to Demand Fresh Board
Elections,” Ahramonline, November 16, 2011, http://english.ahram.org.eg/
NewsContent/1/64/26737/Egypt/Politics-/ETUF-workers-stage-sitin-to-demandfresh-board-ele.aspx.
Joel Beinin
23 al-Ittihad al-Masri lil-Niqabat al-Mustaqilla, “Min al-mas’ul ‘an i’adat misr lil-qa’ima
al-sawda’?” May 15, 2012.
24 Jano Charbel, “SCAF Takes Strike-Breaking into its Own Hands,” Eg ypt Independent,
March 13, 2012, www.egyptindependent.com/news/scaf-takes-strike-breaking-itsown-hands.
25 Egyptian Democratic Labor Congress, “Foundation of the Egyptian Democratic
Labour Congress,” October 16, 2011.
26 Moxham, “Egypt’s New Labor Movement Comes of Age”; Alexander, “The
Workers’ Movement in Egypt.”
27 Eg ypt Independent Staff, “Government Report: 335 Labor Protests in Egypt in 2011,”
January 17, 2012, www.egyptindependent.com/news/government-report-335-laborprotests-egypt-2011.
28 “Those Pesky Workers and Peasants and Egyptian Election Law,” nisralnasr, April
14, 2011, http://nisralnasr.blogspot.com/2011/04/those-pesky-workers-and-peasants-and.html.
29 Suzy Hansen, “The Economic Vision of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood
Millionaires,” BloombergBusinessweek, www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-04-19/
the-economic-vision-of-egypts-muslim-brotherhood-millionaires.
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About the Author
Joel Beinin is the Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History and
Professor of Middle East History. He received his A.B. from Princeton
University in 1970, his M.A. from Harvard University in 1974, and his
A.M.L.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1978 and 1982.
He also studied at the American University of Cairo and the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem. He has lived in Egypt and Israel and has taught
Middle East history at Stanford University since 1983. From 2006 to
2008 he served as director of Middle East Studies and professor of history
at the American University in Cairo. His research and writing focuses
on workers, peasants, and minorities in the modern Middle East and on
Israel, Palestine, and the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Beinin has written or edited nine books, most recently Social Movements,
Mobilization, and Contestation in the Middle East and North Africa,
co-edited with Frédéric Vairel (Stanford University Press, May 2011) and
The Struggle for Worker Rights in Egypt (Solidarity Center, 2010). Beinin’s
articles have been published in leading scholarly journals and newspapers
and magazines and he is a regular commentator on television and radio.
In 2002 he served as president of the Middle East Studies Association of
North America.
25
Carnegie Endowment
for International Peace
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace is a private,
nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing cooperation between
nations and promoting active international engagement by the United
States. Founded in 1910, its work is nonpartisan and dedicated to
achieving practical results.
Carnegie is pioneering the first global think tank, with flourishing
offices now in Washington, Moscow, Beijing, Beirut, and Brussels. These
five locations include the centers of world governance and the places
whose political evolution and international policies will most determine
the near-term possibilities for international peace and economic advance.
The Carnegie Middle East Program combines in-depth local knowledge
with incisive comparative analysis to examine economic, sociopolitical,
and strategic interests in the Arab world. Through detailed country studies
and the exploration of key cross-cutting themes, the Carnegie Middle
East Program, in coordination with the Carnegie Middle East Center,
provides analysis and recommendations in both English and Arabic
that are deeply informed by knowledge and views from the region. The
Carnegie Middle East Program has special expertise in political reform
and Islamist participation in pluralistic politics throughout the region.
CarnegieEndowment.org