The workers of the Minya Cement factory have entered in a strike since last week to ask the new company owners of their legitimate rights. In fact, the company’s new owner is Emaar Properties, the owner of Cleopatra Building Materials Industries, which bought the factory from Helwan Cement Company after its ignoring of the workers' rights included in the agreement signed between the two parties, where the new owners have to respect these rights stipulated by law.
The workers decided to enter into strike in the factory after the failure of negotiation and interventions to oblige the company owners to respect the workers’ rights stipulated in the collective agreement. In fact, the company suspended the treatment of workers and their families since last March and did not pay their premium since January 2019. Moreover, the company did not pay the percentage of the workers’ profit for 2018, and refused to pay the end of service benefits to those who reached the age of retirement (pension) asking them to go back to the Helwan Cement Company, which has sold the factory, to get their dues.
The trade union committee sent a memorandum to all the trade unions and security authorities in the country, but with no response. In fact, the memorandums were sent to: the General Union of Construction and Wood Industries Workers, Helwan Cement Company, Emaar Properties Company, the Director General of the General Intelligence Directorate in Minya, director general of Military Intelligence in Minya, the director of National Security in Minya, the undersecretary of the Ministry of Manpower in Minya, the office of Industrial Security and Occupational Health in Minya, and Samalout labour office.
For its part, the campaign of freedom of association and labour rights affirmed its full solidarity with the workers of the Minya Cement Factory in asking for their legitimate demands and their right to use all the legitimate democratic means, including strike, to achieve their demands. It also affirms that the workers’ solidarity is the main weapon for defending their legitimate rights, warning in a statement, the company's management of the continued abuse and violation of the workers' rights.
It also warned the responsible authorities of the negative effects of the continued ignoration of the workers' demands and the attempts to use violent methods to suppress them at the social level and at the level of their working environment.
#Egypt: The oppression of #the Minya Cement Factory workers
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