Thousands of workers at Mahalla spinning company escalate strike, bosses refuse to consider demands until they resume work

Thousands of workers at Misr Spinning and Weaving Company in the Nile Delta city Mahalla al-Kubra staged a rally at the company’s headquarters on Tuesday, escalating strike action that commenced on August 6 over unpaid bonuses.

The rally began as parliamentary representatives for Mahalla and from the nearby town of Samanoud, where many of the workers live, scrambled to resolve the disagreements between workers and the holding company, which has refused to meet workers’ demands unless they return to work first.

Sixteen thousand workers have now joined the strike, demanding that they be paid their delayed annual bonuses, and that their share of company profits is increased, among other grievances related to promotions and food allowances.

One of the striking workers told Mada Masr that 3,000 workers took part in Tuesday’s demonstration, which was planned in response to the holding company’s refusal to respond to the workers’ demands, and the reluctance of company managers to recognize the interventions of several MPs.

The worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said a production bonus that was promised on Tuesday has still not been paid.

“The government is being stubborn. They don’t want to respond to our demands before we return to work, in order to prove that no one is able to force the state to do anything,” the Center for Trade Union & Workers’ Services (CTUWS) published in a statement on its website. 

The worker insisted that losses accrued by the company are the fault of its management and government policies, and that workers should not be held responsible for them. “We work and pay all of our taxes, it is the government that is incapable of securing new customers, materials or additional employees. In the end, we are working under inflationary pressures and trying to ensure our income is in line with increasing prices,” he said.

The holding company’s President, Ahmed Mostafa, and its general manager, Hamza Aboul Fotouh, met with several MPs on Saturday, including Mohamed Abdou, who said Mostafa has insisted that workers return to their stations without offering them any concessions, for fear that workers in other subsidiaries of the company may join the strike or organize their own industrial action. 

On Monday, around 3,000 workers at the Nasr Spinning and Weaving and Dyeing Company also went on strike, calling for their annual bonuses, according to the CTUWS. The company’s management responded to the strike the same day, after the CEO of the company promised them the same bonus the Spinning and Weaving Company workers are demanding, and saying they could strike again if they are not paid.

A statement was written by the MPs involved in mediation and distributed to the workers, promising that company managers would look into their demands within a week maximum if work is resumed in all factories immediately. “Unfortunately, due to the workers’ distrust of management, they didn’t agree to our initiative,” the statement read, “even though it seems sufficient for now and we can pressure the government to adhere to its terms.”

Workers at Mahalla’s textile companies have protested several times in the past 10 years, beginning with a large industrial action in December 2006, which escalated in the years that followed and continued up until and after the January 2011 revolution that ousted long-term President Hosni Mubarak.

Mahalla’s workers did not strike on April 6, 2008, when a general strike was staged across the country, but the city witnessed mass demonstrations against security forces intervening during strikes. The company workers have protested every year between 2012 and 2015.