By Hassan Ghoneim
The director of the Suez Labour Union (SLU) has claimed the dismissal of eight workers which has caused the closure of a key Egyptian port, is illegal.
Suad Omar, a member of the negotiating committee formed by the governor of Suez, Major General Samir Ajlan, made the announcement on Tuesday.
Sokhna port has been closed since 12 October after negotiations regarding pay and the dismissal of the eight workers broke down. The workers stopped loading and unloading cargo ships causing the rerouting of other shipping lines bound for the port. Two ships have been held at the port since the closure, it is thought that there is food amongst the cargo of one of the ships.
Omar, who is also an adviser to the Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions, said “the way to end the crisis is to reinstate the eight employees who were fired and establish a dialogue between the company’s management and the workers. This way it will be possible to discuss how to implement the collective labour agreement signed between the workers and the management in February, which will defuse the crisis.”
Yesterday it emerged that DPW had made false claims that the port was being blacklisted by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO). The IMO does not have any such a blacklist.
Additional reporting by Joel Gulhane
