Tanta Flax workers go on strike

Tanta Flax and Oil Company employees have declared a strike to protest the state’s reluctance to reinstate workers suspended by the factory’s former Saudi owner, they declared in an official statement on Monday.

The government is legally obligated to reinstate the fired workers and return the factory to full operation after an Administrative Court decision declared the company’s privatization contract null in September 2013.

But the workers say the government has not yet done so, although officials promised to take action within two months of the verdict being issued.

In 2005, the state-owned factory was privatized and sold to Saudi investor Abdel Ellah al-Kaaki at a price far below its actual market value, which was estimated to be as high as LE500 million.

The factory and surrounding property were sold to the investor for only LE83 million.

Workers claim the investor reduced the factory’s operating capacity to only 30 percent and then finally halted operations altogether, spurring employees to file a lawsuit demanding the re-nationalization of the company.

Following the court ruling, the workers urged the government to hand the factory’s administration over to them, vowing to bring production back to full capacity within three months. State officials reportedly refused the request.

"We only demanded that the government inject LE10 million into the factory, and we would bring it into full operation and would achieve profits. We asked the government to deal with us like any other investor. We were going to keep the government's money. We won't do like other investors who squander public money and escape the country," the workers said in the statement.

They also slammed the government’s push for a “yes” vote in the upcoming constitutional referendum.

"We are very surprised by the talks of a draft constitution preserving the rights of the workers, while workers are protesting every day in front of the state's eyes, as if we are blindly driven to agree on what the state wants without any proof that these good articles in the constitution will be ever implemented," the statement continued.

The General Union of Egypt's Workers Syndicate also slammed the government's sluggishness in reinstating the suspended workers, MENA reported.

Re-nationalizing government-owned companies that were sold as part of corrupt privatization contracts is one of the revolution's demands that the government is committed to achieving, along with other demands related to reinstating suspended workers and bringing factories into full operation, the union said.

The union underscored its support the factory workers’ strike, adding that the case reveals Minister of Manpower Kamal Abu Eita’s failure to live up to his promises in solving the problems of the workers.