By AFP
CAIRO: Workers at Egypt’s largest factory ended a strike and went back to work on Sunday, one of the protest leaders said, days after the ruling military warned it would no longer tolerate labor unrest.
Faisal Naousha, one of the leaders of the walkout at Misr Spinning and Weaving, said the factory was running again after the strikers’ main demands were met.
Around 15,000 workers from the plant — which employs 24,000 people in the Nile Delta city of Al-Mahalla Al-Kobra, 100 kilometres north of Cairo — went on strike last week.
“We ended the strike, the factory is working. Our demands were met,” including a 25-percent increase in wages and the dismissal of a manager involved in corruption, Naousha said.
Misr Spinning and Weaving is the largest plant in the Egyptian textile industry, which employs 48 percent of the nation’s total workforce, according to the Center for Trade Union and Workers’ Services.
Both the public and private sectors have seen industrial action since longtime president Hosni Mubarak stood down on Feb. 11 after an 18-day popular uprising against his regime.
Banks, which closed last week as their workers staged protests demanding better pay and an end to corruption, reopened for business on Sunday.
