Drop Charges; Change Laws that Restrict Right to Organize, Strike
Since May 2016, police have arrested scores of striking workers from
various industries. Most were later released, but prosecutors have
referred dozens for trial, including some before a military court.
“Arresting workers for striking is another example of how Egyptian
authorities are determined to stifle all space for peaceful
mobilization,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch.
In January 2017, prosecutors charged 19 striking workers at an oil
products factory in Suez with inciting a strike and halting production,
though all were acquitted in a trial later that month. In December 2016,
security forces arrested at least 55 striking workers at the Egyptian
Fertilizers Company, and prosecutors summoned eight for investigation.
On September 26, Kamal Abbas, a member of the government-sponsored
National Council for Human Rights and head of the independent Center for
Trade Union and Workers’ Services (CTUWS), wrote to the Interior
Ministry regarding the National Security Agency’s “disappearance” of six workers
from the Public Transport Authority following raids on their homes two
days earlier.
On September 28, following a news conference by families
of the missing workers, the six workers appeared before prosecutors who
accused them of belonging to an unidentified banned group.
In May,
military prosecutors referred 26 Alexandria Shipyard Company workers to a
military court on charges of inciting strikes.
The January strike in Suez followed a sit-in at the privately owned
IFFCO oil products factory in the last week of December seeking an equal
distribution of bonuses between workers and supervisors. The workers
decided to strike after Interior Ministry officers arrested two members of the IFFCO Independent Workers’ Union who had been participating in the sit-in, according to a workers’ statement published in local newspapers.
The CTUWS said that National Security officers demanded that union
leaders end the strike and then police arrested 13 striking workers on
January 2. Prosecutors summoned another 10 for questioning on the same
day and referred 19 to a minor offenses court on charges of inciting a
strike, halting production, and sabotaging factory properties.
Though
the court acquitted the workers, the factory administration can appeal
the decision. Activists told Human Rights Watch that, according to
workers, 26 people were later fired, including the 19 who were
acquitted.
Union leaders at the IFFCO factory demanded a larger share of bonuses
after the prices of everyday goods in Egypt rose dramatically when the
government floated the Egyptian pound in early November, a requirement
for a US$12 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan package.
Since then, the pound has lost more than 100 percent of its value, and
the IMF has estimated that inflation will rise to 18 percent.
Egyptian authorities greatly restrict the ability of workers to
mobilize independently, and the penal code criminalizes strikes and
workplace sit-ins in articles 124 and 125, with sentences of up to two
years, despite several administrative court rulings that have upheld the
right to strike.
Kamal Abbas, the CTUWS leader, told Human Rights Watch that the
government-controlled Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF) sent a
letter to the administration of the Suez oil products factory saying
that the independent workers’ union, which had signed two collective
bargaining agreements with administrators in 2012 and 2015, was illegal.
The IFFCO Independent Workers’ Union could be shut down as a result.
The government has never legalized the independent labor unions that
proliferated after the 2011 uprising, while officially recognized
unions have not held elections for 11 years, and successive governments
have appointed union leaders, most recently in January.
In June, an administrative court sent the current, restrictive 1976
law on unions for review, stating that “the [ETUF] was not capable of
expressing workers’ grievances and hopes whether before the state or
business owners.” To Human Rights Watch’s knowledge, the Supreme
Constitutional Court has yet to take up the case.
In April 2016, Human Rights Watch called on the Egyptian authorities to legalize independent unions
and criticized a draft law that would dissolve independent unions and
restrict workers’ rights. The cabinet approved a modified draft in July
and sent it to parliament
on January 25. The current draft would not recognize existing
independent unions and would impose prison sentences for establishing
unions that do not follow the new law.
The sharp devaluation of the Egyptian pound also led to strikes in
November and December at two privately owned fertilizer companies in the
Suez governorate, Egyptian Fertilizers Company and the Egyptian Basic
Industries Corporation, the independent news website Mada Masr reported.
Police dawn raids ended both sit-ins, and police rounded up at least 55
workers, one worker participating in the sit-in told Human Rights
Watch. Central Security Force riot police put the arrested workers
inside vans and dropped them in a deserted area three hours later, the
worker said.
Prosecutors detained two for several weeks
before releasing them on bail, and the factory administration dismissed
six with no explanation, the worker said. The two factories have no
unions.
A representative for the Egyptian Fertilizers Company told Human
Rights Watch that police tried for 10 days to convince workers occupying
control rooms to leave before “very peacefully” ending the sit-in.
The
workers returned to work the following morning. He said that halting
production was a crime and acknowledged that prosecutors summoned
several workers, but said the administration had not made complaints
against them during the investigations. Workers denied the
administration’s allegations that they stopped the production or
occupied the control room.
Dawn raids also led to the arrest of six Public Transport Authority
workers from their homes in Cairo on September 24, ahead of a planned
strike demanding bonuses. Authorities did not acknowledge their
whereabouts for four days, CTUWS leader Kamal Abbas told Human Rights
Watch, adding that lawyers had not been allowed to obtain a copy of
prosecution documents as required by law.
Prosecutors accused the six of
joining a banned group that prosecutors did not identify, inciting
strikes, and disturbing public order, pro-government news websites
reported. Two of the workers remain in pretrial detention, while
authorities released four pending investigation.
Egypt’s military has also suppressed workers’ actions. In
Alexandria, 26 workers of the military-owned Alexandria Shipyard Company
have been on trial before a military court since June 21, 2016. A report by the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights
(ECESR) said the workers had organized a brief protest inside the
company’s premises on May 23 and 24, to demand bonuses, promotions, and
safety equipment and tried to negotiate with General Abd al-Hamid
Essmat, the company’s executive.
On May 25, military prosecutors ordered 13 workers held pending
investigation. One, a woman, was released on bail. Thirteen others were
arrested weeks later. Fatma Ramadan, the head of an independent union
and a workers’ rights researcher, told Human Rights Watch that military prosecutors relied entirely on a memo from the company
to charge the workers with inciting strikes and abstaining from work.
Human Rights Watch was not able to review the memo. After several days,
the company allowed 1,100 of 2,800 workers to return, the ECESR said.
The shipyard administration told workers they would be released if
they resigned, said Abbas and an ECESR lawyer. All the prosecuted
workers resigned and were released on bail in groups in October, November, and December, but they still face trial.
Military prosecutors referred the striking workers to military court
under the Military Code of Justice, which covers civilian workers in
military-owned institutions and does not establish any workers’ rights.
The current draft unions law would not change this.
Egypt’s constitution grants freedom of association and the right to
strike. Egypt is a state party to the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, article 8 of which establishes the right to strike,
as well as the right to form and join trade unions and national and
international confederations. Egypt is also a member of the
International Labour Organization and has ratified its eight fundamental conventions.
Parliament should ensure that the draft union law under
consideration meets Egypt’s obligations under international human rights
law by allowing free and fair union elections and ensuring
straightforward legalization procedures for all existing independent
unions. Civilian workers in military institutions should be allowed
association rights and should never be tried before military courts.
Human Rights Watch wrote to IFFCO, the Public Transport Authority,
and the Alexandria Shipyard Company, regarding the incidents but
received no responses.
“Instead of arresting and prosecuting workers, the government should
amend its laws to guarantee workers’ rights to effective bargaining and
mobilization which are essential to effective economic reform,” Stork
said.
The campaign to boycott the company’s products, over 100 of which are produced in Egypt, was announced during a labor conference held
at the office of the Center for Trade Union and Workers’ Services
(CTUWS) on Friday. It is a response to the implementation of measures
which violate workers’ rights by the local administration.
According
to Ahmed Bakr, the secretary general of IFFCO’s local union committee,
27 workers have been barred from entering the company since police
forcefully dispersed a sit-in in early January. Among those sacked are
all nine members of the local union, including Bakr.
Workers
launched the sit-in to demand the augmentation of their wages in line
with increasing inflation rates, and the payment of overdue bonuses.
Bakr
told Mada Masr that prosecutors referred criminal charges of
instigating strike action to trial, “even though the right to strike is
protected by law, and is safeguarded in the Egyptian Constitution.”
Twenty one of the 27 workers stood trial
at the Suez Criminal Court for their involvement in the industrial
action, and were acquitted on Sunday. They described the verdict, which
has cleared them of any wrongdoing, as a victory which upholds their
rights as workers.
The privately owned United Arab Emirates-based
company, which produces oils, foodstuffs and other consumer goods, has
37 production plants worldwide. It is owned by the Allana family, listed
among the top five wealthiest Indian families in the Gulf Cooperation Council in 2016.
Regarding
the potential for the boycott to negatively affect wages of IFFCO
workers, Bakr said that his fellow workers are overwhelmingly in favor
of the campaign, until the rights of all employees and unionists are
restored.
He told Mada Masr: “The company is implementing punitive
measures against our coworkers, many of whom are afraid to speak up for
their rights, especially since the administration sacked the entire
union committee.”
According to Bakr, 200 striking workers, many of
whom were briefly arrested during the sit-in dispersal, were prevented
from entering company grounds until they signed an agreement with
administrators pledging to refrain from pursuing industrial action
again. “They were forced to sign these papers, and if they refused they
were threatened with the loss of their jobs.”
Additionally,
administrators at IFFCO’s branch in Suez claimed that the workers’
sit-in had cost the company LE4 million in losses, and accordingly
deducted LE500 from each of its 600 workers for going on strike.
The
workers have been demanding the reinstatement of the local union
committee, and the 27 employees who are currently prevented from
returning to their jobs at the company, he said.
The company’s administration could not be reached for comment.
In
addition to the alleged infringements on labor and union rights,
Mohamed Saeed, president of the local union committee, claimed that he
was blindfolded, threatened and summoned for questioning by National
Security Agency (NSA) officers in Suez regarding the strike.
He
said that during the strike, he was “told to return to the company, to
call off the strike, or return to the NSA to face subsequent measures
against me.” Saeed added that his apartment was repeatedly raided by
police forces.
The CTUWS’ legal consultant Rahma Refaat commented
that “boycott campaigns in Egypt may be more symbolic and promotional,
whereas they tend to be more successful abroad.”
She suggested that IFFCO’s workers “focus on a boycott centering on your most popular product. Fern Butter, for example.”
Bakr
asserted that the boycott is not an open-ended action against the
Allana family. “If our boycott does succeed in upholding workers’ rights
at the company, then we will call it off.”
The union has
requested international solidarity from labor unions and federations,
and consumer rights groups. He argued that an effective boycott campaign
in the UK or USA could have a great impact on IFFCO’s distribution
centers there, saying Allana and IFFCO “would be afraid to lose
customers and investments, or even afraid to have their name was
tarnished.”
Recent years have seen a crackdown
on industrial action in Egypt’s public and private sector, and the
state has increasingly turned to the deployment of security forces to
arrest workers and impose exceptional legal measures to punish those
detained.
Recent nationwide labor protests have found themselves confronted by
extraordinary measures of repression as the country continues to weather
economic struggles, austerity measures and rising inflation.
The
Egyptian government has deployed security forces to quash any suggestion
of labor action in the public or private sector, arresting workers and
subsequently imposing exceptional legal measures to punish those
detained.
Since 2016, the state has increasingly moved toward suppressing labor protests. According to an annual report published
by the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR), there
were 726 labor protests over workplace demands, claims of administrative
mismanagement and corruption in 2016. These protests have particularly
been driven by grievances over working conditions and demands for
increased wages and bonuses in light of recent economic reform policies.
However, the ECESR report also noted that 2016 saw a decline in the total number of labor protests compared to 2015, in which there were 933 labor protests. In 2014, there were 1,609 labor protests, while, in 2013, there were 2,239.
The state’s crackdown has prompted solidarity campaigns and petitions — in Egypt and abroad —
demanding that the criminal charges against dozens of workers be
dropped. Addressed to executive authorities, the petitions have been signed by hundreds of rights workers, labor unions and federations, denouncing the deployment of security forces to suppress protesting workers.
ALEXANDRIA SHIPYARD COMPANY WORKERS
“Undoubtedly,
Egypt has been witnessing increased repression against workers protests
since 2013,” says ECESR lawyer Mohamed Awwad.
According to a report
issued by the Center for Trade Union and Workers Services (CTUWS),
security forces have forcibly dispersed seven labor protests over the
past year, while 28 workers have been prosecuted and nine others are
standing trial. The report adds that corporations have also dismissed
271 workers, union members and labor leaders due to their involvement in
labor action.
The state’s initial response to a potential problem in the cog of military production — the Alexandria Shipyard Company has been managed by the Defense Ministry since 2007 —
was particularly extreme, Awwad says, as the workers had not forced a
work stoppage but had organized a sit-in on May 23 and 24, 2016. They
were demanding an increase in salary to align with the national minimum
wage, payment of overdue bonuses and for work at stalled production
lines to recommence.
Military police forces were deployed to the
shipyard on May 24, where they surrounded the workers’ sit-in.
Of
the Alexandria Shipyard Company’s 2,300 workers, some 1,200 have still
not been allowed to recommence work with the company since its
management imposed a lockout on May 24
and therefore cannot collect their full salary. Awwad says that 32
workers, including the 26 standing trial, remain barred from entering
the company’s premises. The state has also moved to force 19 of the
workers standing trial to tender their resignations in exchange for
bail.
“There is increasing pressure from military officials upon the remaining workers to submit their resignations,” says Awwad.
PUBLIC TRANSPORT AUTHORITY WORKERS
Another
significant case centers on the ongoing trial of six Public Transport
Authority (PTA) workers who had planned to strike on September 24, the
first day of the academic year, but were arrested in dawn raids.
The
public bus drivers had prepared to strike to demand increased bonuses
and for the PTA to be placed under the authority of the Transportation
Ministry.
The six PTA workers were jailed and are being prosecuted
on charges of inciting unrest within a state institution, instigating
protests against the state, obstructing public transport, forming a
terrorist cell within the PTA and belonging to an outlawed organization,
a reference to the Muslim Brotherhood.
After being detained for
over three months, four of the six workers were released on bail, while
two remain jailed in Tora Prison pending investigations.
“My
father was arrested at home,” says Seif, the son of jailed PTA worker
Abdel Khaleq. “They came for him even though the strike never took
place. There wasn’t even a protest. Why is my father in prison when
strikes are a legitimate and legally stipulated right?”
IFFCO OILS COMPANY
The
latest crackdown took place in the Suez Governorate on January 2, when
police forcefully dispersed a sit-in at the privately owned IFFCO Oils Company, a subsidiary of the Dubai-based IFFCO Group, arresting scores of workers, 21 of whom are now standing trial for “instigating a strike,” while two remain jailed pending investigations.
Security forces were deployed in response to a complaint filed at the local police station
in which the company’s management accused the workers of striking and
obstructing production, a charge which is increasingly being leveled
against workers who embark on industrial action.
Seoud Omar,
a Suez-based trade unionist and regional labor organizer, says these
kinds of industrial action are staged over “‘bread and butter”’ issues
and are typically apolitical in nature. “Labor strikes are not criminal
actions,” he asserts. “There is no terrorism, political conspiracy, or
plots against the ruling regime in these non-violent labor protests.”
While
Omar has seen violence used to suppress labor movements in the past,
the recent developments add a new dimension. “The use of violence on the
part of Ministry of Interior is not new,” he says. “But the increased
use of its police forces in so many different locations is.”
Omar
argues that “police are clearly acting on behalf of business interests
and against workers’ basic rights,” a fact, he argues, is clearly
illustrated in the raid of the IFFCO Oils Company.
Ahmed Bakr, the
secretary general of the Independent Union of IFFCO Employees, says
that since January 2, 27 workers have been barred from entering the
company, of which 21 are standing trial, including all nine elected
members of the company’s trade union committee. Bakr himself is among
those facing prosecution.
The initial court hearing before the Suez Criminal Court is scheduled for January 29,
which is the same day that the court is expected to issue a verdict in
the case. Bakr calls this unprecedented, asking why he and his
co-workers are not being granted an opportunity to defend themselves in
court. “It appears that the authorities are sending a message that they
won’t tolerate strikes or any labor union organization in the Suez
area.”
According to Bakr, the crackdown was not limited to the 12
workers arrested at the factory, as security forces arrested three
others in dawn raids. He adds that several of his co-workers were
interrogated by National Security Agency representatives.
“Are
protests over bonuses now a threat to national security?” he asks. “We
were arrested and are now on trial like criminals because we exercised
our legally protected rights.”
EGYPTIAN FERTILIZERS COMPANY
Another notable security crackdown took place on December 5, when police raided the Egyptian Fertilizers Company (EFC) and Egyptian Basic Industries Corporation (EBIC), both of which are owned by business magnate Nassif Sawiris — Egypt’s richest man, worth an estimated $US6.1 billion.
Workers at both of Sawiris’ fertilizer companies were striking to demand higher wages in light of the flotation and devaluation of the Egyptian pound.
The coordinated police raids resulted in the arrests of around 200
striking workers, who were released within hours. Two other EFC workers
were taken to Attaqa Police Station and released the following day after
paying LE 10,000 bail each. A total of six EFC workers — all of whom
have been sacked in light of this strike — will appear before the Suez
Criminal Court on January 28 on charges of “instigating a strike” and “halting production.”
Following
the forced dispersal of these strikes, a half-page notice was published
in the December 25 issue of the state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper under
the headline, “Message of thanks and appreciation from workers at EFC.”
The notice asserted that, “all workers at the Egyptian Fertilizers
Company express their utmost sorrow and pain regarding recent
incidents,” a reference to the strike. “Workers consider themselves to
be strategic partners with the owners of capital.”
Yasser
al-Geneidy, who was arrested in the raid, points out that he wrote this
apology together with a co-worker, under pressure from company
administrators. “We were told to formulate this apology as a
precondition to being reinstated,” he says.
A management official is said to have paid for this ad, which cost around LE133,000.
“Many workers objected to the wording of the statement, but we did so
in hopes of keeping our jobs,” according to Geneidy. “We have apologized
but have not been reinstated, and now we are standing trial.”
Geneidy concludes, “Nassif [Sawiris] is much bigger and stronger than us. What can you do with a billionaire who is actually helping to fund the state? Who do you think they are going to side with?”
Omar
predicts that rising inflation rates and stagnating wages, coupled with
the state’s austerity measures and crackdown on workers’ protests, will
result in significant labor unrest across Egypt.
“Take it from
me,” Omar says. “After all these years in the labor movement, I can
safely tell you that there will be a massive wave of worker protests
affecting the country soon.”
___
*Seoud Omar passed away just a few days after Mada Masr conducted this interview with him.
The funeral service for Seoud Omar,
a prominent Egyptian labor activist and an organizer in the Suez
independent trade union movement who died in a traffic accident on
January 13, was held in Suez City on Saturday.
The
accident occurred on the road to Suez City, where Omar was returning
after speaking hours earlier at a Cairo event organized by the “3ayzen Ne3esh” (We Want to Live) campaign.
Omar
had long worked to pry the labor movement away from the grip of the
state-controlled Egyptian Trade Union Federation, which has monopolized
labor action for long stretches since the union was established in 1957.
He also played an important advisory role in organizing protests in
seven Suez Canal Authority-affiliate companies during the 2011 popular
uprising against the regime of former President Hosni Mubarak.
In late
2013, he was involved
in the launch of the Thowwar Front (Revolutionaries Front) alongside
other members of the Egyptian political sphere aiming to continue the
goals of the January 25 revolution and move beyond the political duality
of the moment that was centered on support for either the Muslim
Brotherhood or the military.
The Suez City funeral attracted over
1,000 people, according to journalist Mostafa Bassiouny, who attended
the service and called Omar an “exceptional labor leader.” Workers,
political leaders and members of civil society, trade unions and
professional syndicates traveled from governorates across Egypt to pay
their respects to Omar.
After news of Omar’s death was announced, Egyptian television shows and news outlets
highlighted the 55-year-old Suez Canal Authority employee’s lifetime
achievements, while a number of political parties and organizations
similarly issued statements of tribute.
Galal al-Gizawy – a Suez
Canal Authority employee in Port Said City who worked with Omar and had
been a member alongside him in the leftist Tagammu Party since the 1980s
before leaving in 2005 due to disagreements over the party’s policies
and leadership – called Omar “an exemplary socialist activist and a
pivotal actor in promoting union consciousness among workers.” He also
emphasized that Omar, who held a law degree, played an important role in
providing legal advise to workers during the 2011 labor protests that
coincided with popular movements against the Mubarak government.
“We
have lost Seoud Omar and the labor movement feels this loss,” Gizawy
said. “He leaves us with a new lot of workers and unionists who were
inspired by his example. He may have passed away, but his memory will
remain very much alive with us.”
Gizawi added that Omar was: “A dear
friend. He was a cheerful, honest, and kindhearted man, who was constantly
smiling. A smile that cannot be forgotten.”
Ahmed
Bakr, a worker at the IFFCO Oils Company in Suez, stated that Omar had
helped him and his coworkers to organize their local factory union, and
that he was a labor-rights “mentor” to many Egyptian workers.
Omar
was instrumental in the 2011 founding of the loose association of
independent labor organizations known as the Suez Federation of Unions,
Bakr added. The IFFCO Oils Company Company Union in addition to cement,
textile, steel, ceramic, petroleum, longshoresmen, food processing and
transportation unions were brought under the wider banner provided by
the federation.
The labor leader also mounted two unsuccessful
bids for parliamentary election, once in 2010 and another after the
January 25 revolution.
Social media users expressed their condolences for Omar using the Arabic language hashtag Seoud Omar.
In
an interview conducted with Mada Masr one week before his death, Omar
predicted that rising inflation rates and stagnating wages, coupled with
the government’s austerity measures and crackdown on workers’ protests,
would result in significant labor unrest across Egypt.
“Take it
from me,” Omar said. “After all these years in the labor movement, I can
safely tell you that there will be a massive wave of workers’ protests
affecting the country soon.”
A dozen leading UK trade unionists released a statement today
condemning the latest attacks on workers’ rights in Egypt. Members of
the national executive committees of the university workers’ union UCU,
civil servants’ union PCS and the National Union of Teachers were joined
by Bakers and Food workers’ union president Ian Hodson in a protest
letter responding to the storming of the IFFCO factory in Suez
by Egyptian security forces on 3 January.
The statement also condemns
the on-going persecution of the Cairo bus workers’ leaders by the
Egyptian authorities, as a number of bus worker activists appeal a
two-year jail sentence and 100,000 LE (£5,000) fine imposed in absentia
in relation to a strike in 2014.
What you can do:
Rush messages of protest to your Egyptian embassy, calling for the immediate release of detained worker activists
Protest statement: Egyptian workers’ rights under threat
Once again trade unionists in Egypt are under threat from the
military regime, simply for exercising their rights to organise and
strike.
On 3 January, police stormed the IFFCO oils and soap factory in
Suez and forcibly broke up a sit-in by striking workers. Eleven workers
have been arrested and could face long jail terms and large fines.
The
attack on IFFCO follows other assaults on workers’ rights, including the
arrest and detention of workers in the Alexandria Shipyard who were
demanding better pay and the implementation of health and safety
procedures, and of leaders of the Cairo bus workers’ union who were
seized from their homes in September 2016 on charges of ‘incitement to
strike.’ Five members of the bus workers’ union are already appealing a
two-year jail sentence and an LE100,000 fine (around £5000) imposed in
absentia on charges related to a previous strike.
Egyptian workers are fighting to feed their families as prices spiral
out of control. The International Monetary Fund and foreign governments
want to see more cuts to subsidies, welfare and services as they push
for neo-liberal reforms which aim to make the poor pay the price for
Egypt’s economic crisis.
We call on Egypt’s military regime to stop the
persecution of worker activists and release all those unjustly detained.
We extend our solidarity to all those in Egypt carrying on the struggle
for bread, freedom and social justice.
8 January 2017
Ian Hodson, National President, Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU)
Ian Bradley, Unite the Union, London Construction workers Branch
Marianne Owens, PCS National Executive Committee (Civil Servants union)
Steve West, PCS DWP Group Executive Committee (Civil Servants union)
Candy Udwin, PCS National Executive Committee (Civil Servants union)
Marianne Owens, PCS National Executive Committee (Civil Servants union)
Sean Wallis, UCU National Executive Committee (University workers union)
Mandy Brown, UCU National Executive Committee (University workers union)
Carlo Morrelli, UCU National Executive Committee (University workers union)
Jess Edwards, National Union of Teachers, National Executive Committee
Stefan Simms, Nation Union of Teachers, National Executive Committee
Steve Guy, Unite the Union shop steward, Gatwick Airport
