As we have reported previously, the period since the fall of Mubarak in February 2011 has seen a growing level of militancy amongst workers and trade unionists in Egypt. In particular, waves of strikes were seen in September 2011 by both public and private sector workers.
In the last month, however, a new wave of strikes has begun which is increasingly challenging the SCAF and parliament directly. At the forefront of these actions were the bus drivers of the Public Transport Authority, whose demands included a raise in the minimum wage, a lower retirement age, and investment in new buses and improved services.
This video from the Real News Network vividly highlights the fact that this movement of the workers has not gone away, and today the bus drivers, conductors, and mechanics are still fighting to improve their conditions. In particular, the interviews in this video display the political nature of these struggles, with workers seeking to root out corruption at the tops of the public sector and government ministries where many supporters of the old Mubarak regime still reside.
One pair of notable interviewees point out the threat that this militant movement of the workers poses for the ruling military council, which has nothing to offer ordinary Egyptians other than continued oppression and exploitation: “The regime has two options – another popular revolt or a military coup to finish us.”
The same two workers go on to explain the failure of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) as a real alternative for ordinary Egyptians to the military rulers: “We voted in the Brotherhood hoping they could do something for us. They are worse and even more mindless” (...) “Neither the Muslim Brotherhood nor the Salafis [a more conservative Islamist party]. They are with the military council.”
As we have explained previously , the elections in Egypt have been a sham, with low turnouts and rules set up by the military regime that favour organisations with large existing networks, such as the Muslim Brotherhood. The leadership of the MB have consistently supported the military regime over the past year in order to consolidate their own power in parliament. However, in recent weeks there has been fighting at the top, with the military rulers and the MB leaders battling to enshrine their individual interests in the new Egyptian constitution that is being drafted.
Another bus worker in the same video, referred to above, explains the current situation from the perspective of ordinary Egyptians:
“Right now we want a Prime Minister that is close to the people. The Muslim Brotherhood voted for PM Ganzouri, now they want him gone. The ministry hasn’t done anything. Nor has the parliament. The country is in chaos. The people are sick and tired from inflation. We don’t have cooking oil, gas, bread or anything. There is no stability. This can’t be! The revolution must return and continue our initial demands: social justice, dignity, and freedom.”
This Egyptian worker is correct: under the military regime and the decaying capitalist system that it seeks to prop up, there can be no talk of “stability” or improved conditions for the lives of ordinary Egyptians. The oppressive military council can offer nothing fundamentally different from that of Mubarak. But the power to change Egyptian society lies in the hands of the Egyptian workers themselves. As the final interviewee in the video exclaims: “Wait, the ultimate revolution is coming! Wait for the revolution of the workers!”
Apart from this bus drivers’ strike, Egypt has witnessed a series of other strikes around the country in the recent period.
At Cairo's Ramses railway station the workers staged a strike on the morning of Wednesday, 21 March, to demand their bonuses. They prevented trains from travelling between the capital and a number of governorates.
Courthouse employees in several governorates throughout Egypt went on strike to demand higher pay and better work benefits. The strike began on in the governorates of Alexandria, Gharbiya, Damietta, Suez and Qena, with more workers reportedly joining the strike action later on.
Administrative employees and workers at Egyptian newspapers held a protest on Tuesday morning to demand higher allowances. Dozens of protesters gathered in El-Sahafa Street outside the offices of state-owned newspapers Al-Ahram and Akhbar Al-Youm near the centre of Cairo before marching to the Shura Council (the upper house of parliament).
German University of Cairo students, graduates and supporters staged a sit-in at the university campus for over two weeks after the university decided to expel two students and ban three others from classes for their political activities. The strike was successful.
Employees of Egypt’s Central Auditing Organisation (CAO) staged sit-ins at its Cairo headquarters demanding reform of the organisation and better wages. Protests began in the northeast district of Heliopolis began with the participation of around 200 auditors from the CAO, whose duty is to supervise the spending of public money. The number of demonstrators later swelled to 2,500 employees.
Also, Egypt Tax Authority [ETA] employees, who waged a series of impressive struggles in the years before the fall of Mubarak, were on strike for more than a week in the middle of March. They are demanding the removal of ETA head Ahmed Refaat and head of the tax sector Mounira El-Qadi, who are both in their positions despite going over the mandatory age of retirement.
The historically rebellious city of Suez, which saw the first intense clashes and casualties during the 25 January revolution, has been at the centre stage of the recent wave of strikes. Since the start of March, strikes have erupted in places like the Cleopatra Ceramics factory, Maridive, Suez Fertilizers, as well as in steel and sanitation companies.
Hundreds of workers from the Egyptian Postal Services Authority (EPSA) organised a sit-in in front of the Central Administration of Postal Services in Cairo to demand the resignation of Communications and Information Technology Minister Mohamed Salem. They also called for the dismissal of ministry advisors, who they say are holdovers from the ousted Mubarak regime.
Workers at the Arab Contractors, one of the leading construction companies in the Middle East and Africa, have been on strike, raising the demand for permanent contracts. The same demand was raised in the strike at SUMED oil port, where some workers have been employed on temporary contracts for more than 30 years. The regime has responded by arresting several of the workers of SUMED for intercepting an oil tanker that was trying to enter the port.
4000 workers at the Ain Sokhna Cleopatra Ceramics factory, the country’s largest tile producer, have also been on strike for 14 days. Initially they took several foreign consultants hostage but the decisive breakthrough came when the workers took Labour minister Fathi Fekri and Cleopatra Ceramics owner Mohammed Abul-Einein as hostages.
Operations at the Sukari Egyptian gold mine were resumed after 800 workers ended their week-long strike. Work at the gold mine, located in southern Egypt, was stopped when workers began a strike demanding better salaries and increased hazard pay.
More than 200 workers and employees at the Headquarters of General Authority of Red Sea Ports (GARSP) in Suez started a strike demanding the removal of naval officers, who were assigned by the government-run authority in December 2011 to "secure" the port of Suez. The strike, employees confirm, followed a three-day sit-in. Emal El-Shemi, a security guard at GARSP, claimed workers of three neighbouring ports Adabieh, Suez and Safaga, are also striking in solidarity with employees of the authority.
The Egyptian revolution is going to be a long drawn out process. This is due to the fact that on the one hand the ruling class cannot quickly undo what has been changed by the revolution itself. The workers and youth gained enormous confidence from the experience of the revolution that removed Mubarak. On the other hand, although the working class is very strong and mobilised, it does not have that leadership that is required to bring together all the forces within the working people into one powerful bloc and put an end to the very system that spawned the Mubarak regime, Egyptian capitalism.
Thus the workers and youth will go through several experiences, each time testing out the parties and trade union organisations. The video referred to above, shows quite clearly how the workers who had voted for the Muslim Brotherhood are now beginning to see through them. Eventually the workers will see they need to build their own political voice, and finally carry out that workers’ revolution they refer to.