EGYPT LABOR: STRIKES ONGOING, GOE REFUTES ILO

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CAIRO 001877

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/ELA (NAFZIGER),DRL (ANZALDUA)
NSC FOR WATERS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ELAB ECON PGOV PHUM EG
SUBJECT: EGYPT LABOR: STRIKES ONGOING, GOE REFUTES ILO
REPORT

REF: CAIRO 01595

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SUMMARY
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1. (SBU) Although no broad-based alternative worker movement
has yet to coalesce, the Kefaya movement's actions in
solidarity with striking textile workers in Mansoura could
hint at future coordination. Strong GOE rebukes greeted the
release of an ILO report that cited employment discrimination
against Egypt's Copts, but ILO operations here do not appear
to be affected. Minister of Manpower Aisha Abdel Hady is
under pressure, not only from the strikes but from the
political backlash of her signing a labor protocol with Saudi
Arabia. End summary.

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STRIKES PERSISTENT
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2. (SBU) Some of Egypt's manyrecent labor strikes are
beginning to elicit broder support from opposition and civil
society grops. The primarily female workers at the
MansouraEspana Garments Company are continuing the sit-in
strike launched on April 21 over years of unpaid onuses and
the potential sale of the firm (refte). The Kefaya
("Enough!") opposition movement ha joined with labor
activists, bloggers, and othe civil society groups to
organize a boycott of te United Bank, which owns a
controlling interestin the company. In addition to the
boycott, Kefya is organizing a letter-writing campaign, and
pominent leftist blogger Hossam Hamalway posted ful contact
details of the bank's management on hiswebsite. The group
plans to stage a solidarity rotest in front of the bank's
Mansoura branch onJune 19, and is planning to organize a
"solidarit trip" by "activists and interested journalists"to join in the action. According to reports, someKefaya and
Tagamu Party members have also joinedthe workers at the
factory and provided them wit food and other essentials.
Kefaya has also recenly organized protests against
privatization of sate-owned companies under the banner of
"No to Slling Egypt."


3. (SBU) The Mansoura-Espana factry employs 284 workers,
seventy-five percent of hich are female. In response to
their ongoing sit-in, the workers report that the company has
shut off food and water, and report that on June 16 six
workers were fired and fifteen others referred to the local
police station under accusations of inciting unrest.
According to the striking workers, the bank notified the
workers that it planned to liquidate the company despite
ongoing negotiations between workers, the Egyptian Trade
Union Federation, and the Minister of Manpower Aisha Abdel
Hady. Operations are currently suspended.


4. (SBU) In another textile industry strike, press reports
indicate the management of the El-Seyoof Company for Spinning
and Weaving in Alexandria cut off water and electricity and
withdrew canteen workers to force an end to an ongoing
workers' protest. Echoing earlier GOE attempts to head off
protests, direct intervention by Minister Abdel Hady in early
June forestalled a strike in solidarity with a dismissed
worker at the Bolivara Spinning and Weaving Company. Abdel
Hady reportedly contacted the worker directly via telephone
and promised to reinstate him. Despite the treatment of some
workers engaged in on-going strikes, post-settlement employer
reprisals against workers do not appear widespread. The
hunger strikers at the Suez Integrated Oil Company, for
example, not only extracted concessions from their employer
but had their strike days counted as holidays.


5. (SBU) Regarding the potential for strikes at Cairo's
public flour mills (reftel) that could potentially disrupt
bread provision to the capital, labor activist contacts tell
us that the Ministry of Social Solidarity has maintained an
active and engaging negotiating process with the workers.
These efforts, they said, have thus far prevented strikes but
have yet to achieve a final settlement.

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ILO REPORT RAISES OFFICIAL HACKLES
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6. (SBU) Assertions regarding employment discrimination
against Egypt's Coptic Christian community in the May 2007
International Labor Organization (ILO) report "Equality at

CAIRO 00001877 002 OF 002


Work: Tackling the Challenges" provoked angry retorts from
senior GOE officials. Abdel Hady immediately refuted the
allegations, saying that Egypt's constitution guarantees
citizenship rights, and that Copts controlled about one-third
of the nation's wealth and headed some of its largest
companies. On June 6, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Abul
Gheit issued a strong rejection of the report, expressing his
resentment over the ILO's reliance on "unreliable and
inaccurate information that lacks objectivity." ILO
headquarters later issued a statement that was carried in
some Egyptian newspapers regretting the sourcing of their
information, which they had drawn from the copts.com website.



7. (SBU) Abdel Hady's comments, particularly those regarding
the Copt's reported share of national wealth, generated
criticism from some in the Coptic community here. Some
prominent Copts here said the minister's comments, which also
referred to Christians as brothers, seemed to divide the
country into religious camps and could incite sectarian
strife. Other questioned the figures she put forth and
demanded to know her sourcing.


8. (SBU) The Senior Program Officer for the ILO Sub-regional
Office for North Africa in Cairo said that her office had not
received any blowback -- official or otherwise -- over the
issue, and host-nation cooperation on the various ILO
programs here was unaffected. She added that the ILO and the
GOE appeared to have resolved the issue in Geneva.

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EGYPTIAN MAIDS TO SAUDI?
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9. (SBU) In early June, reports of a protocol signed by Abdel
Hady and the Chairman of the Saudi National Committee for
Recruitment and Manpower Saad al-Baddah, allegedly regarding
the recruitment of 120,000 Egyptian maids to work in the
Kingdom, caused a public outcry in Cairo. Firing back at
criticism from Parliament and the general public over the
"demeaning," humiliating" and "scandalous" agreement, Abdel
Hady said the protocol dealt with bilateral labor issues
broadly and had nothing to do with maids. Specifically, she
said, the protocol aimed to ensure proper treatment of
Egyptian nurses who tended to elderly patients in Saudi,
stipulating provision of adequate housing and living
conditions.


10. (SBU) Abdel Hady added in her public statements that the
Ministry of Manpower and Migration prevents the travel of
female labor to Saudi under the title of "maid" or
"housekeeper" in order to protect "the dignity of Egyptian
labor." Many women's rights activists dismissed the
minister's assertions, however. Head of the Egyptian Center
for Women's Rights Nehad Abul Komsan said the move would
propagate a "slavery market" whereby young Egyptian girls
would be sold into the Gulf, and accused the minister of
trying to rid Egypt of excess population. Director of the
Women's Issues Center Azza Kamel told journalists that this
showed the absence of a strategy for tackling poverty and
unemployment and could lead to organized trafficking.

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COMMENT
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11. (SBU) Aside from some recent small-scale conferences, no
major push has been made among workers to better coordinate
their efforts and form a broader cross-sectoral movement. We
will watch to see if the Kefaya movement's actions in
solidarity with the Mansoura-Espana workers morph into a
larger-scale effort. Despite the sensitivities aroused by
the ILO report, it doesn't appear to have affected GOE-ILO
cooperation on programs here, and we do not anticipate the
incident in and of itself would hinder the implementation of
the proposed USDOL-funded labor democratization project.
Already under pressure over the strikes, the controversy
caused by the "maids" labor protocol with Saudi Arabia has
added to speculation among observers about the increasing
potential for Aisha Abdel Hady's imminent departure from the
cabinet.
JONES