Letters: Egyptian workers join the action

I agree with Tim Webb ( Letters , 14 February) that there has been a Labour silence on the events in Egypt, including the participation in this people’s revolution of one of its most powerful sectors – the working class. Last week, over 20,000 workers were participating in strikes, thrusting aside the official Egyptian Trade Union Federation and establishing their own independent Federation of Egyptian Trade Unions. Kamal Abbas, of the independent Centre for Trade Union and Workers’ Services, confirmed reports by al-Jazeera in an interview with US magazine Labor Notes, commenting: “This day [10 February] in the revolution could be named for the labour unions. They have moved all over, with more than 20 strikes in the railroads and also textiles, nurses and doctors.” A textile factory with 24,000 workers was expected to join the strikes; added to these, were protests by workers at coke and cement companies in Helwan, by Suez Canal labourers and by workers at a Schweppes factory. Another account lists bus drivers, railway workers, steelworkers, teachers and sanitation workers among those taking action. Perhaps it’s time to recognise the part played by those unromantic heroes and heroines, the sanitation workers, train drivers, factory workers, labourers and service employees of Egypt. Sheila Cohen University of Hertfordshire • It appears a people’s pro-democracy regime change has all the ingredients of morphing into another Middle Eastern military dictatorship ( Reports , 14 February). What’s the betting the corporations running the US will cheer that on? Ian Lowery Watford, Hertfordshire Egypt Middle East Al-Jazeera guardian.co.uk

Posted by on February 15, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry