CAIRO: An award honoring labor movements and their leaders was given to the workers of Egypt on Tuesday in Washington, D.C.
The American Federation of Labor and Congress and Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), a voluntary federation of 56 national and international labor unions, awarded the Meany-Kirkland Human Rights Award to the Egyptian workers’ movement “in recognition of its extraordinary courage and perseverance in the face of substantial state repression.”
Kamal Abbas, director of the Center for Trade Union and Worker Services (CTUWS), and Kamal Abu Eita, president of the independent Real Estate Tax Authority Union (RETA), accepted the award on behalf of workers in a ceremony held in Washington, D.C.
In a statement issued in March, AFL-CIO calls the unprecedented wave of labor strikes and protests which have emerged since 2004 “the most significant social movement in the Arab world since World War II, and the largest labor unrest in Egypt since the late 19th century. Egyptian workers are continuing to challenge their employers, their unions and their nation’s government.”
Abu Eita said in his speech during the ceremony that “with increasing labor strikes in Egypt, quantum leap has taken place in terms of the independent workers’ movement,” adding that the independent union he and his colleagues created in the wake of a successful 11-day sit-in in 2007 now has a membership of 40,000, making it the largest trade union representation in Egypt.
“This was achieved despite a fierce war waged by the government to use union-busting tools,” Abu Eita said.
Abbas meanwhile said, “With every new day — for more than 45 months —Egyptian workers have delivered a new message; we are not gears in a machine spoiled by misuse. We are not cheap goods supplied to attract investments … we are human beings, entitled to a decent living, entitled to freedom, justice and equality.”
In 2007, the interior ministry shut down CTUWS’ offices on the grounds that CTUWS was not properly registered with the state. The administrative court overturned this decision in 2008.
