Muslim Brotherhood on International Workers Day: Military Junta Trample All Rights

Muslim Brotherhood on International Workers Day: Military Junta Trample All Rights
As the world celebrates the Labor Day, or the International Workers’ Day… honoring the men and women who build countries, civilizations and progress, and while workers in many parts of the world stand proud in a glorious scene with their countries celebrating their achievements, Egypt’s honorable workers stand in a state of anguish and pain for what they have suffered at the hands of the ruinous treasonous military coup, which trampled their rights and lost them their jobs, closing factories, and severely limiting their employment chances.

Deliberately ignoring the principle of equal opportunity, the coup regime violated the rights and dignity of workers, escalating its crimes against them, arresting many and fabricating false charges and sham trials for workers, forcing 13,000 of them off their work, and dishonored Egyptian workers in Libya when thirty of them were recently killed.

Under the traitorous military-controlled coup regime, laws were passed that robbed workers of their economic and social rights. The junta laws made investments of the patriotic people targets for theft, confiscation and closure, which led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands who consequently lost their jobs, in an unprecedented move, never seen before in the history of Egypt.

After the treacherous coup, eight thousand factories were closed, with six million workers losing their jobs. The labor force fell from 27 million workers in 2013 to 21 million this year. The number of unemployed reached 13 million, and production fell by 60%. The junta succumbed to the terms of the International Monetary Fund, reducing the number of employees in the state administrative system and reducing their financial dues, they put new restrictions on access to jobs, allowed companies to bring in foreign workers, and allowed the military joint investment with foreign partners.

The first time Workers’ Day was celebrated in Egypt’s Qubba presidential palace – in all the history of Egypt – was under the rule of the legitimate President Mohamed Morsi, the first civilian President of Egypt. He celebrated the day with the Steel Company workers and ordered a re-structuring to improve the company’s performance.

During President Morsi’s short term in office, a new assembly plant was built for Samsung Smart TVs, and another to produce the first Egyptian Tablet PCs. His term also saw the restructuring of several textile companies. Some 600,000 temporary workers also got full employment, a committee set out to restructure wages, with minimum annual bonuses set, and the breadwinner women Act was issued, among many other achievements for the workers of Egypt.

The Muslim Brotherhood solemnly salutes the resilience of struggling Egyptian workers through their long history of honorable and patriotic endeavors. The group supports workers in all their efforts to recover their rights, and asserts that the Revolution against military rule is the only way to restore these rights, investments and jobs, and a decent life for all Egyptians.

On this Workers’ Day, we must pledge to write a new page of freedom and glory – in the history of Egypt’s patriotic workers, with the precious blood of the martyrs, the patience and steadfastness of workers, and the Revolution of the free men and women of this homeland, in which we call for reinstatement of democratic legitimacy, retribution from the murderers of Egyptians, and an end to military rule.

The Muslim Brotherhood

Cairo: Sunday – May 1, 2016