CAIRO - A juggernaut labor movement is flourishing in the light of the Arab spring....
The fast-spreading strikes amount to a test for the interim government over the parameters of freedom of expression.
The strikes are threatening the fragile economy, described by observers as a ticking time bomb, with the government bleeding cash reserves and Egypt losing foreign investment. Economists are warning against granting broad public-sector raises to satisfy labor demands, given that Egypt’s budget deficit is now as large as Greece’s.
The military council is being forced to calculate whether a crackdown would simply ignite more unrest, while lending truth to charges that little has changed since Mubarak fell in February.
Still, observers say, the fact that such a diverse wave of strikes is happening at all speaks to just how much Egypt has changed.
Doctors are staging sit-ins, demanding pay raises and a trebling of public health spending. Teachers, on strike for the first time since 1951, are shutting down tens of thousands of schools, calling for the ouster of the education minister - one of the many remnants of the Mubarak era - and a ninefold increase in pay.
Transit workers have partially stalled the bus fleet in this teeming capital of 23 million, calling for a 200 percent pay raise. Dockworkers stopped work at the key port of Ain Al Sokhna, disrupting Egypt’s vital sea links to the Far East.
Further unnerving jittery foreign investors, the nascent labor movement appears to be spreading to private factories and farms.
“This is a social revolution to complete the political revolution,’’ said Abdel Aziz El Bialy, deputy director of the Independent Teachers’ Union.
It is becoming increasingly clear that the interim government - along with a new, democratically elected one that would follow after promised elections - faces a massive challenge: a flood of heightened economic expectations that defy the reality of the nation’s severely stretched coffers and stagnant economy....
“It’s become a culture of opportunism.’’
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"Airport work action wreaks havoc in Egypt" October 07, 2011|By Tarek El-Tablawy, Associated Press
CAIRO - A work slowdown by air traffic controllers delayed scores of flights yesterday and left passengers stranded for many hours in Cairo International Airport, wreaking havoc in the latest example of cascading labor unrest that officials and analysts say is devastating Egypt’s economy.
The protest was over a decision to rescind a promised bonus. It forced the delay of more than 200 flights and turned Egypt’s flagship airport into a microcosm of the general mayhem that has come to define the country since the uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak in February.
The partial strike was the latest labor action in months of near daily protests in virtually every sector of the economy.
That means it is TRULY a PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT!!
Egyptian Labor Minister Ahmed el-Boraie warned this week that the country is going through a “critical period and [was] on the brink of bankruptcy,’’ according to the daily, Al Masry Al Youm. Egypt’s “losses are growing day by day,’’ he was quoted as saying. “Either we band together and change the current situation, or let Egypt be destroyed.’’
But other officials, including the finance minister, have taken a softer tone. They say the country faces challenges, but worker grievances are justified after decades of low salaries.
The labor action coincided with a highly symbolic day in Egypt - as the country’s post-Mubarak military rulers put on a show of strength to mark the 38th anniversary of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. The celebration came against a backdrop of waning public confidence in their commitment to move the country to civilian rule.
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That means it is TRULY a PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT!!
Egyptian Labor Minister Ahmed el-Boraie warned this week that the country is going through a “critical period and [was] on the brink of bankruptcy,’’ according to the daily, Al Masry Al Youm. Egypt’s “losses are growing day by day,’’ he was quoted as saying. “Either we band together and change the current situation, or let Egypt be destroyed.’’
But other officials, including the finance minister, have taken a softer tone. They say the country faces challenges, but worker grievances are justified after decades of low salaries.
The labor action coincided with a highly symbolic day in Egypt - as the country’s post-Mubarak military rulers put on a show of strength to mark the 38th anniversary of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. The celebration came against a backdrop of waning public confidence in their commitment to move the country to civilian rule.
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