26 July - 1 August 2001
Issue No.544
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 26 July - 1 August 2001 Issue No.544 |
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End of the line
Another factory shut down, more workers thrown out on the street. Dena Rashed joins the workers of Gangari on their quest for justice
"I just want my job back," sighs Hassan Ibrahim, a dejected worker who was laid off two weeks ago from the Gangari meat-processing factory in 6 October City . Since then, Ibrahim and his 180 coworkers -- all dismissed without notice -- have had no source of income and have been scouring Cairo in search of an official to help them out.
Factories shut down and their owners walk off scott-free leaving workers behind to face uncertain futures photo: Youssri Aql
Gangari is only one of the many plants that have sprung up in Cairo's industrial satellite cities over the last two decades. Owned by a Sudanese national, the factory opened in 1979, but was declared bankrupt in 1998. At the time, workers stood against the closure and petitioned the courts to keep the factory open. As a result, they held onto their jobs until 1999, when a new management took over. Since then, "we have suffered many injustices," says Magdy Gamal, who worked at Gangari for eight years. "We were deprived of our incentive bonus, transportation allowances and, even worse, our profit shares," he explains angrily.
A long-time worker with Gangari, Gamal thought his loyalty was worth something. But according to Galal Bayoumi, the factory's production manager, "it never really mattered how much of your life you gave to the company; in the end, everyone was liable to expulsion without compensation." Bayoumi worked for Gangari for over 20 years, meaning he was eligible by law to receive severance pay. But when the plant sacked its workers, he received nothing. "Three months prior to closure, workers were only being paid half of their original wages and the management started asking some of them to come to work only two days a week," Bayoumi recounts.
It is a familiar tale and Gangari's workers are hardly the first to pay a heavy price for the lack of the government's hands-off attitude towards private business's violation of labour laws and standards. Earlier this year, Sainsbury's workers in 6 October City suffered the same fate. Before them it was Amouncite, a textile factory, which hurled some 3,000 workers onto the street and an uncertain future when it suddenly shut its doors temporarily. Another example is Al-Mottahida, in the industrial zone of 10 Ramadan City. The company's workers are still shuttling between ministries in search of compensation for their jobs, which they lost without warning.
Gangari's workers have been very active in espousing their case, filing complaints at every concerned ministry and authority and giving interviews to local newspapers. "Until now, we have filed about 10 complaints," says Bayoumi. "We know that this is going to take a lifetime to get anything done, but we have no other choice."
Equally frustrated, Gamal notes that Gangari's closure was capricious. "We have not been provided with a convincing reason for the closure. We have been working in this field for years so we are experts too," he says. Admitting that the country's meat market has suffered from the mad cow disease scare and a ban on importing European meat, Gamal insists that "workers are not convinced that these reasons are strong enough to result in closure."
Hassan Abdel-Rehim, deputy sales manager at Gangari who had been with the factory over 20 years, agrees with Gamal. "The ban on meat exports is only a pretext," he said. "We can still import meat from Australia, India or China, which is what several other factories are doing now."
The Labour Office in 6 October City is responsible for monitoring labour conditions there. Though the office is supposed to document infractions of the law and help workers file complaints, no one there could provide any answers about the plight of Gangari's workers. Al-Ahram Weekly took the issue a notch higher on the bureaucratic ladder to Hosni El-Anany, the under-secretary of the manpower administration in Giza governorate. "The most we can do is investigate the complaints filed by the workers quickly -- in a week or, at most, 10 days," El-Anany told the Weekly. "In [the case of Gangari], we have tried to settle the matter with the owners of the company. However, if we do not reach a solution, the only recourse left to these workers is the courts," he added.
Fatma Abdel-Latif, head of the Department of Manpower at the Giza Governorate, told the Weekly that the owners of the factory have only reported a partial closure of the factory, meaning that one of its departments has shut down, or a specific product has been discontinued. But when the Weekly visited the Gangari factory it was totally shut down. Confronted with this information, Abdel-Latif said that the case is still being examined. If the total closure is proven to be true, says Abdel-Latif, then the owners accordingly will face several charges under Law No. 137 for the year 1981 (clause 107). Maximum punishment upon conviction is three months in prison.
Gangari is only the latest case in a string of layoffs and closures in Cairo's industrial cities and more are expected to follow. "I think it should be expected that other workers will be laid off due to the severe economic conditions that we are now facing," notes Abdel-Latif. "But that doesn't mean that we will not do our best. Our main concern is the workers."
Offering up the "best" efforts of the Department of Manpower does not inspire a great deal of confidence in an economy where high unemployment pushes people to accept harsh employment conditions. Desperate workers agree to take less then minimum wage, or sign the notorious "form No. 6" -- in which the employee consents in advance to resign before he or she even starts work. This paper is kept by the employer, who then wields the power to fire any worker at any time.
Although it is the mandate of the Labour Office to protect workers from such treatment, Al-Anany argues that if "form No.6" is signed by a worker then it is his own fault. "Am I more royal than the king?" he scoffs. "It is the workers who agree to give up their rights." Al-Anany says the phenomenon is due to "lack of awareness"; others would call it exploitation.
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