VZCZCXRO3282
PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHHM RUEHJO RUEHKUK RUEHPOD RUEHROV
DE RUEHEG #1283/01 1221405
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 021405Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4979
INFO RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE
RUEHXI/LABOR COLLECTIVE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 CAIRO 001283 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ELA 
STATE ALSO FOR DRL/IL (ANZALDUA) 
LABOR FOR ILAB 
NSC FOR WATERS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB PGOV ECON PHUM KDEM EG
SUBJECT: EGYPT LABOR UPDATE: GOE SHUTS DOWN LABOR NGO, 
STRIKES PERSIST 
 
REF: A. CAIRO 721 
     ¶B. CAIRO 356 
     ¶C. 06 CAIRO 7256 
     ¶D. 06 CAIRO 6799 
 
Sensitive but unclasssified.  Please protect accordingly. 
 
------- 
Summary 
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¶1. (SBU) The GOE's closure of the Center for Trade Union and 
Workers Services (CTUWS), combined with recent public 
statements, may indicate its tolerance of ongoing wildcat 
strikes is eroding.  Some public sector brickworks employees, 
dairy workers, textile workers, and garbage men are currently 
involved in protests or strike action.  Disgruntled flour 
mill workers in Cairo and Giza held off on strike action in 
late March - early April, but their stop-gap agreement with 
the GOE will expire in June.  One labor activist used a 
recent Ibn Khaldun Center conference to announce the 
formation of a "free" (and illegal) parallel labor union, 
although the move lacks credibility and grass-roots support. 
President Mubarak said in his May Day speech that Egypt would 
push forward with democratization and economic 
liberalization, and would seek economic growth through 
greater investment, industrial development, and restructuring 
of public companies.  End summary. 
 
--------------------------------- 
GOE Shuts Down Labor Rights Group 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) On April 25, Egyptian State Security officers closed 
the headquarters of labor rights group the Center for Trade 
Union and Worker Services (CTUWS) in Helwan, an industrial 
city just south of Cairo, after the Ministry of Social 
Solidarity accused the organization of inciting labor unrest 
throughout the country and for failing to register as an 
association.  The closure of the CTUWS headquarters followed 
the closing of two of CTUWS' branch offices in recent weeks. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Labor activist contacts have told us that they 
believe the GOE is shuttering CTUWS as punishment for its 
role in advising striking workers of their legal rights and 
previous GOE promises regarding pay and bonuses, and for its 
role in exposing widespread irregularities in 2006's labor 
union elections (ref C).  The Minister of Manpower Aisha 
Abdel Hady and Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF) head 
Hussein Megawer have both stated publicly that CTUWS has been 
responsible for inciting recent unrest.  CTUWS head Kamal 
Abbas, however, has said the GOE is trying to use him as a 
scapegoat for the series of strikes that have hit Egypt over 
the past several months.  Contacts have also told us that 
CTUWS found itself in the middle of a tussle between Abdel 
Hady and Minister of Investment Mahmoud Mohieldin over the 
latter's use of CTUWS to help negotiate settlements with 
striking workers this past December, a plan Abdel Hady did 
not endorse. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Human Rights Watch (HRW) immediately condemned the 
closure, and called on the GOE to reverse its closure order 
and cease harassment of the organization.  Press releases 
quoted HRW's Middle East director Leah Whitson as saying 
"closing the offices of a labor rights group won't end labor 
unrest" and that the GOE "should be upholding legal 
commitments to Egyptian workers instead of seeking a 
scapegoat."  Amnesty International (AI) condemned the 
closures in an April 26 press release, saying that the move 
will impede Egyptian workers from accessing information and 
advice about labor rights.  Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB) 
Deputy Head Dr. Mohamed Habib also publicly denounced the 
closures, and called on the GOE to respect the rights of 
workers.  The Brussels-based International Trade Union 
Confederation (ITUC) announced its solidarity with CTUWS, and 
said it has sent a letter to President Mubarak urging him to 
instruct relevant GOE departments to rescind restrictions on 
CTUWS activities.  Thirty-seven Egyptian civil society 
organizations also issued a joint denunciation, saying the 
GOE's actions contradict its promises on democratic reform. 
 
¶5. (SBU) The closure of the Helwan headquarters followed the 
 
CAIRO 00001283  002 OF 004 
 
 
March 29 closure of the Naj Hammadi office in Qena 
Governorate (south of Cairo) and the Mahalla el Kubra office 
(Nile Delta region) on April 10.  According to eyewitnesses, 
several hundred security personnel enforced the office 
closures, and police trucks remain stationed near the closed 
offices.  Despite protests and sit-ins organized by workers 
in support of CTUWS, the closures did not spark any known 
outbreaks of violence. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Citing a failure of the official unions in 
supporting worker rights in a democratic manner, labor 
activists established CTUWS in 1990, vowing to provide direct 
support and services to workers disregarded by the union 
structure and to develop the labor movement by strengthening 
its capabilities.  CTUWS is registered as a civil company. 
According to CTUWS, it attempted in 2003-2004 to register as 
an association (i.e., as a non-governmental organization with 
Egypt's Ministry of Social Solidarity), but was denied due to 
legal prohibitions against associations engaging in trade 
union activities. 
 
---------------------------- 
Birth of a Free Labor Union? 
---------------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) On April 24, Saad Eddin Ibrahim's Ibn Khaldun Center 
hosted a gathering of trade unionists and labor activists to 
discuss the ongoing strikes and the issue of free and 
democratic labor unions.  Emboff attended the event and noted 
perhaps only 20 persons in attendance -- much less than the 
40-50 that normally would attend similar events at the 
Center.  During the meeting, labor activists, in response to 
recent press pieces, refuted statements by the Communist 
Party that it had a role in organizing the ongoing strikes, 
chalking it up to opportunism on their part.  Local press 
quoted event organizer Ahmed Abdallah as saying that "most 
workers had never heard of (communist leader) El 
Alim...before he made his statements claiming responsibility 
for the strikes." 
 
¶8. (SBU) Grabbing the headlines, however, were comments by 
self-styled labor organizer and activist for the El Geel 
("The Generation") Democratic Party, Ali El Badry. 
Denouncing the Mubarak government and Minister of Manpower 
Abdel Hady in particular, a visibly animated El Badry cried 
at the conclusion of his remarks that "Aisha, you will pay 
the price!" for neglecting Egypt's workers.  El Badry's main 
announcement, however, was his intention to form a "free 
union" operating parallel to the sole legal trade union 
federation ETUF. (Comment: Such a move would contravene 
Egyptian law.  End comment)  El Badry said he was already in 
the process of recruiting membership and that he would unveil 
his plan during May 1 protests in Cairo's Tahrir Square and 
several provincial capitals. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Emboff and Labor FSN had previously met with El 
Badry on April 7, at the urging of Saad Eddin Ibrahim, to 
discuss his plans.  (Comment: Based on that meeting, post has 
serious doubts about the seriousness and credibility of El 
Badry and his "free union" movement.  Additional details to 
be reported septel.  End comment.)  El Badry, who also said 
he was looking for USG financial support for his activities, 
demurred when queried about current membership in his nascent 
organization, saying "a couple of thousand" had signed up but 
he was not sure at to precisely how many.  El Badry presented 
us with a copy of his manifesto and the membership form that 
was being distributed "under the table" to prospective 
members. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Local observers, including influential leftist 
blogger Hossam el Hamalawy, consider El Badry's purported 
movement as lacking in grass-roots support and unable to 
mobilize enough workers to generate anything more than 
symbolic protest.  El Hamalawy also criticized the planned 
top-down evolution of El Badry's "free union," stating that 
"free and parallel associations cannot parachute in from 
above" with the expectation that workers to flock to the 
cause.  He argues that any parallel movement must be grown 
from the factory level with the eventual goal of establishing 
a national structure. 
 
-------------------- 
 
CAIRO 00001283  003 OF 004 
 
 
Labor Unrest Ongoing 
-------------------- 
 
¶11. (SBU) With the major strikes of late 2006 and early 2007 
having set the precedent of GOE acquiescence to pay and bonus 
demands (Refs A - C), sit-ins and wildcat strikes in Egypt's 
public sector companies, although smaller than those reported 
in reftels, are ongoing.  Workers in publicly-owned companies 
as diverse as the Egyptian Company for Dairy Products and the 
Arab Sand Brick Company have begun sit-in and strike actions 
in recent weeks to protest anticipated layoffs and demand 
previously-promised bonuses.  Textile worker strikes, 
although much smaller than the large ones of this past 
winter, have occurred in recent weeks in Alexandria and the 
Nile Delta region.  Garbage collectors in Giza are involved 
in an ongoing strike over unpaid salaries, and press reports 
indicate six of them were arrested on April 29 on charges of 
illegal assembly.  Workers from the giant Ghazl El Mehalla 
textile factory (reftels) are also continuing their push to 
have their local union leadership impeached, and were 
recently denied permission to conduct a public protest in 
Cairo. 
 
¶12. (SBU) Minister Abdel Hady has been quoted on local 
television as having said "the situation has gone on long 
enough," warning that "there are those who want to ignite a 
revolution."  During an April 30 interview with Nile TV News, 
Abdel Hady said that while sit-ins, protests, etc. have their 
place, workers should go though "all legal channels" before 
resorting to strike action. (Note: As per reftel, any strikes 
not approved by the national union structure, i.e. all of 
them in recent months, are considered illegal.  End note.) 
Abdel Hady also accused "certain newspapers and satellite 
channels" (NFI) of pushing the workers toward strike actions. 
 
 
¶13. (SBU) In late March and early April, over 5,000 workers 
at the North Cairo, South Cairo, and Giza flour mills held 
sit-ins andmarches inside the factories to protest a move by 
the Ministry of Social Solidarity to reduce the dily wheat 
quota allocated to each of the mills. The workers argued 
that this reduction would hav severely reduced workers' 
bonuses and annual proit shares, which are tied to 
production.  The wokers also argued that the reduction was 
part of  GOE plan to phase out the mills and shift breadproduction to the private sector.  Strikes -- and  potential 
bread crisis in Cairo and Giza -- wereaverted when the 
Ministers of Social Solidarity,Manpower, and Investment 
agreed to freeze the reuctions until June 2007.  Mill 
workers are hopin for a permanent settlement prior to June, 
but wll re-evaluate their strike options should one not e 
reached. 
 
------------------------ 
Mubaraks May Day Speech 
------------------------ 
 
14.(SBU) Mubarak delivered his annual May Day speech n 
April 29 at ETUF headquarters in Cairo.  Mubark focused his 
speech on GOE efforts to promote ecnomic growth, and thus 
employment, through attrating FDI, increasing the industrial 
base, and retructuring public sector companies.  He said 
refrm at all levels will proceed, including democratiation 
and economic liberalization.  The "lower inome categories" 
of society would be protected though increased public sector 
wages, increased apropriations to the Ministry of Social 
Solidarityand through better-targeted subsidies.  Only 
addressing the recent labor unrest in general terms, Mubarak 
acknowledged that some protests are "a natural consequence" 
of reform, but the Egyptian President implored workers with 
grievances to follow legal channels.  Mubarak also called for 
coordination between the Ministry of Manpower and other 
government departments in addressing labor issues and called 
for a stronger relationship between the government, 
Federation of Industries, chambers of commerce, and the labor 
unions. 
 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶15. (SBU) Public comments by GOE officials, in addition to 
 
CAIRO 00001283  004 OF 004 
 
 
more stringent interventions by security services, indicate 
growing GOE impatience for the ongoing labor unrest.  By 
raising in the media the specter of labor provocateurs, the 
GOE may be seeking to deflect public attention, but it will 
do little to resolve the real grievances of workers over pay 
and working conditions.  In the background of all of these 
public sector strikes is a fear of privatization.  Mubarak 
seemed to acknowledge this in his speech, noting that some 
labor protests "are a natural consequence of reform." 
 
¶16. (SBU) While we do not feel El Badry's "free union" 
movement has any credibility, potential leaders of future 
labor structures may be emerging.  Mohammed El Attar, a 
shop-floor leader of the massive December 2006 textile worker 
strikes in Mehalla El Kubra, and the leader of the drive to 
impeach GOE-approved textile union leadership, has emerged as 
mouthpiece for public sector workers' grievances.  We will 
closely monitor any emergence of potential leadership of a 
parallel labor movement. 
RICCIARDONE