CENTER FOR TRADE UNION & WORKERS SERVICES

( CTUWS )
Honored the French Republic’s Human Rights Prize

Statement
No For the Security Attack Against Workers
Center for Trade Union and Workers Services , 24 May 2010: On Sunday 23rd May 2010 the
security forces attacked the workers demonstrations and dispersed the sit-ins of Amonsito Textiles
Company, the Nubariya Workers and the Telephone factory workers. It is a clear expression of the
government’s failure to deal with the workers’ crises which escalated during the last few years due
to the failure of the economic policies adopted by the current as well as the previous governments.
The workers have nothing too do with these policies.
The retreat of both the Ministry of Manpower and the Egyptian Trade Union Federation from the
agreement signed with the Amonsito workers on 21 March - which was hardly accepted by the
workers – shows that those who are responsible for the workers in Egypt do not have real solutions
for the workers’ problems. The workers of Amonsito entered into negotiations and signed an
agreement, then the government represented by the Ministry of Manpower fails to respect this
agreement. The workers were surprised yesterday to find that they have to sign a new agreement to
disburse EGP 50 million as compensation for early retirement in stead of the EGP 106 million which
was decided in the previous agreement. This is not the only case. There were other agreements with
the Tanta Linen Co. which are not implemented to date. The Ministry of Manpower started to evade
such agreements. Earlier, there was a similar agreement with Salimco workers, etc. All this confirms
that the government is not the decision taker vis-à-vis the tyranny of the businessmen and the mafia
of corruption which are getting more brutalized in shade of the infamous privatization program.
The workers protesting in front of the People’s Assembly have fair rights and demands which were
not denied by any government official who always declared that the workers are right and that they
are seeking solutions for their problems.
Using force yesterday against the workers’ sit-ins in front of the People’s Assembly indicates not
only that the government has failed to keep its promise to solve these problems, but also that the
return to use violence against workers protests means that the coming period will witness more
eruptions between the government and the people especially with the increasing repercussions of the
economic and social crises which affect the majority of the Egyptian people.
What happened in front of the People’s Assembly - either by using force vis-à-vis the angry
workers of Amonsito or forcing the other protesting workers to evacuate the pavement of the
Assembly – shuts off the expression outlets of workers who miss real trade unions to express their
interests and negotiate on their demands.
While the Center for Trade Union and Workers Services (CTUWS) emphasizes the importance of
disseminating and activating the culture of collective bargaining which is considered the optimal and
only exit from the current societal congestion, it emphasizes that the minimum success of collective
bargaining can only be achieved when the negotiators take their decisions by themselves; otherwise
the outcome will not go beyond signing agreements which cannot be achieved. The CTUWS calls
upon all the democratic powers of the Egyptian society to face this unjustifiable fierce attack against
the workers and upholds the margin of expression which the Egyptian workers managed to obtain
recently. The CTUWS emphasizes as well that violence had never been a successful method to
solves crises. Violence was always a factor to increase the severity of congestion inside the society
and to jeopardize stability.
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Egypt/Helwan - Mohammed Said Ahmed st.- Petrogas buildings- Alexandria building-

Second Floor – Apartment No. (2) P.O. Box. 114 Helwan
Tel: +202 255 93 929 / +2012 0532 488 Fax: + 202 255 93 932
E-mail: ctuws.ctuws@gmail.com, Website:http://www.ctuws.com