The Committee for Justice (CFJ) has monitored a new escalation taken by the management of El-Shorbgy Textile Company, part of the Helwan Spinning and Weaving Complex, through the issuance of a decision to suspend 18 workers who are currently on strike and to refer them to administrative investigation.
This decision comes after the workers’ strike enters its seventh day, as they begin their peaceful action every Tuesday since April 29th, in protest against a unilateral decision issued by the management to cancel Saturday leave without any consultation with the workers or their union representatives, which the workers regard as a clear violation of an acquired right they have enjoyed for years and that directly affects their social and family life conditions.
In addition, the demand for financial equality remains one of the main demands of the workers, who confirm that their current salaries do not exceed 4,500 Egyptian pounds monthly after deducting both employee and employer insurance shares, while salaries in other companies under the management of Helwan Complex surpass the 7,000-pound mark, along with visible differences in the value of incentives, social benefits, and monthly and annual allowances.
Workers see this gap as unjustified, especially since all these companies fall under the same general management and belong to the same industrial entity. Moreover, El-Shorbgy Company is the only one still operating within the complex since the rest were halted four years ago, making its financial and administrative discrimination more painful and unjust.
Tensions rise further when the company management suspends the activities of the trade union committee and freezes its bank account, a move the workers view as a clear violation of their constitutional rights to organization, assembly, and collective bargaining. The union committee has already filed a legal lawsuit before the labor courts demanding the lifting of the freeze and the restoration of its normal role as a representative body defending workers’ rights.
In light of the ongoing strike and the workers’ refusal to return to work before achieving their legitimate demands, the Justice Committee views the suspension of the 18 workers as a retaliatory step that threatens union life and undermines all standards of dialogue between management and workers. It emphasizes that such escalation will intensify tensions within the only active industrial complex remaining in Helwan and may lead to consequences that negatively affect the social and job stability of the workforce.
The CFJ calls for the immediate cancellation of this decision and the return of the suspended workers to their jobs. It also urges the concerned authorities, particularly Egypt’s Ministry of Labor and Ministry of State for Administrative Affairs, to urgently intervene to contain the crisis, stop the arbitrary measures taken against striking workers, and push company management to return to a serious and responsible dialogue table in pursuit of applying the principle of
