8 March 2024
The workers of Ghazl El Mahalla marked a new milestone in their struggle late last month by declaring a strike in protest of being excluded from the decision to raise the minimum wage — in a context of mounting economic and living hardships and widespread price increases in Egypt.
In an attempt to suppress the workers’ mobilization, Egyptian Security Officials interrogated dozens of workers, detained several of them, and referred them to the State Security apparatus. Meanwhile, the company’s management issued dismissal warnings to the detained workers under the pretext of “unjustified absence from work.”
The Arab Trade Union Confederation (ATUC) expresses its full solidarity with the workers of Ghazl El-Mahalla in exercising their right to strike, as guaranteed by Article 15 of the Egyptian Constitution. ATUC strongly condemns the campaign of intimidation targeting these workers and the efforts to undermine the symbolic significance of this company as one of the most prominent bastions of the Egyptian labor movement.
ATUC also calls for the repeal of laws restricting the right to organize and urges the Egyptian government to fulfill its obligations under ILO Convention No. 87 by respecting the right of Ghazl El Mahalla workers — and all Egyptian workers — to freely choose their representatives, engage in collective bargaining, and put an end to the fabrication of charges and the misuse of punitive laws to intimidate workers.
Executive Secretary
Hind Benammar
English 
العربية