Trade Union Services Centre in Cairo, Governorates Closed

Egyptian Minister of Social Solidarity issued a decision of closing Trade Union Services Centre in Helwan, as part of the government”s crackdown against all reformist institutions.
 
The Minister of Social Solidarity, Ali Moselhi, issued a decision on Tuesday of closing Trade Union Services Centre in Helwan, and sent a copy of his decision to the local council in Helwan. He also notified the security services to carry out the decision .
 
This move comes after the decisions that the minister previously issued of closing the branch of the Trade Union Services Centre in the city of Nag Hamadi last 29 March. And closing the branch in El-Mahalla El-Kubra last 11 April .
 
More than 20 civil society organizations assembled inside the centre in solidarity with it while it was surrounded by huge numbers of security services in preparation for implementing the minister”s decision of closing it.
 
Kamal Abbas, the head of the Trade Union Services Centre in Helwan, accused the the Minister of Labor, Aisha Abdul Hadi, of inciting the government, particularly the Minister of Solidarity, to close the Trade Union Services Centre under the claim that this centre orchestrated the labor sit-ins and demonstrations that have recently been carried out.
 
Lawyer Mohsen Bahsh, a board member of the Legal Aid Society, said that the decision of closing the centre was issued under the pretext that it hasn”t carried a conciliation although it presented a conciliation request 2003, but the Social Solidarity Ministry ignored the request.
 
It is worth mentioning that the Trade Union Services Centre carried out a prominent role in rallying and mobilizing workers during the elections that took place later in 2006 to elect new boards for the general syndicates and union committees inside companies and factories .
 
Reacting to the decision of closing the centre, Kamal Abbas said that the decision contradicts totally with the letter of encouragement from the Ministry of Solidarity during the visit of a delegation of civil society organizations in addition to MP Hamdein Sabahi, as the assistant-minister for societies affairs. Aziza Hussein, confirmed that the ministry seeks a solution for the crisis and called on the services centre to conciliate its situations according to regulations.
 
Abbas added that they, the centre, were stunned by the decision of Minister of Social Solidarity, which was sent to solidarity administration in Helwan and then to the local council, pointing out that this decision proves that there are plots not only against the services centre, but also against all civil society organizations.
 
Asked about the means for resisting the decision, Abbas said that the representatives of 15 civil society organizations are now inside the centre, and other people an organization are expected to flock into the centre to discuss how to resist the decision and protecting the services centre.
 
For his part, Ahmed Zaki, a researcher at the union services centre said that the decision of the Minister of Solidarity is part of an ongoing campaign launched by the government against the services centre, starting with closing the centre”s branches in Kafr Al-Dawar and Al-Mahalla.
 
Zaki added to Ikhwanweb that this campaign is a part of the government”s attack against civil society organization and Egyptian opposition groups in general.
 
“Why does the government deal with the civil society organizations as if they were an enemy that must be eradicated?!,” wondered Zaki.