Muslim Brotherhood Welcomes New Free Labour Union of Egypt

The Muslim Brotherhood declares it welcomes Free Labour Union of Egypt, a new body established by Egyptian reformist workers.
 
The newly established Free Labour Union of Egypt, a body which is parallel to the regime vetted General Union of Egyptian Workers, announced organizing demonstration on Tuesday in Tahrir Square in Cairo and the main squares of 15 governorates, in protest at what it called violations committed against workers and against union pluralism .
 
labor human rights sources confirmed that the number of participants in these protests will not be that big, and the security is expected to foil these vigils, to prevent any escalating labor protests and sit-ins, to avoid any aggravation of tensions.
 
The labor sources said that the Egyptian laws do not allow establishing any parallel unions; this made members of the Board of Directors of Egypt Labour Union give a deaf ear to this declaration; one of the members said:” This union is doomed to fail because it is outlawed and illegitimate; those responsible for it have no effective presence or credibility among labor grassroots.
 
The sources mentioned that the Coordinating Committee for Union Rights and Freedoms, Kifaya Movement and the Socialist Coalition will not participate in this vigil because there is no coordination among them regarding establishing the new parallel union, while the committee, the movement and the coalition decided organize a celebration in the Tagammu’ Party headquarters on the occasion of the Labor Day with the participation of a big number of human rights activists concerned with worker’s rights.
 
It is worth mentioning is that the new union will announce opening nominations for the union elections immediately after the vigil to elect a board of directors under supervision of a number of human rights organizations.
 
For his part, Saber Abul Fattouh, a labor leader and People’s Assembly member for the Muslim Brotherhood, said this new union a good step and is primarily to the interest of the workers.
 
Aboul-Fotouh added in a statement to Ikhwanweb that the Muslim Brotherhood supports strongly any popular move among workers or any other section to demand their rights and activate the role of the civil society institutions.
 
Asked about the Muslim Brotherhood participation in this new labour union, Aboul-Fotouh said:” the Muslim Brotherhood isn’t necessarily a part of any a new popular movement but the group is definitely supporting it and welcomes any coordination with it.
 
The MB parliamentarian added that the state of the current General Union of Egyptian Workers is bad and is an inevitable result for the scandalous rigging of the last labor elections.
 
Aboul-Fotouh pointed out that a conference will be held to discuss workers’ problems and their current conditions and the continuous strikes in the labor arena; this conference will be held next Thursday under sponsorship of the Muslim Brotherhood parliamentary bloc.

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