Thousands of workers of Mahalla Weaving and Textile Company, resumed on Wednesday their strike for the third day in row demanding the minimum wage be applied and dismissal of Fouad Abdel Aleem, chief of the Holding Company for Weaving and Spinning, in order to accept starting negotiations and suspend their strike.
Faisal Laqousha, a leading worker in Mahalla, said disbursing the delayed annual profits should have been disbursed in December. The head of the holding company promised to disburse them by mid-February, however, he then refused “citing shortage of liquidity” which pressured workers to strike and suspend work until dues are paid.
Workers refused to negotiate with the company administration until Abdel Aleem is dismissed and minimum wage is applied, he told Al-Masry Al-Youm, adding that workers consider the profits as their rights
The company board held meeting on Tuesday headed by Abdel Fattah al-Zoghba, the commissioner-general of the company, with delegation of the workers to mull their demands.
The company called on the workers to suspend the strike and resume work and granting the company a period of one month to dismiss abdel Aleem and disburse the delayed profits within this week. However the meeting failed as the workers rejected the initiative and insisted on their demands.
The workers strike started on Monday.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
