After the Arrest of Union Leaders: Solidarity is Our Only Path

Statement by the Revolutionary Socialists

The counter-revolutionary authorities have nothing left to offer workers and employees except repression and persecution.

The security forces are cracking down on every attempt by workers and employees to speak out about the harsh conditions faced by all wage earners in Egypt, even when these attempts follow the very rules set by the authorities themselves.

The arrest of nine independent union leaders, who tried to organize a peaceful protest under the protest law to demand their rightful claims amid an unprecedented surge in prices not seen since wartime, is nothing more than a declaration by the authorities of their total bankruptcy and inability to even listen to legitimate demands, let alone negotiate.

This kind of repression is not new. Just a few months ago, the same authorities arrested leaders of the public transportation union after they announced a protest to improve their conditions. Workers at the Mahalla textile company, who went on a two-week strike last month and were promised by management that their demands would be met, later found their colleagues persecuted, with six of them referred to the public prosecutor. Before that, workers at the Alexandria Shipyard, Egypt Telecom, Torah Cement, and IFFCO faced similar crackdowns, arrests, and prison sentences.

The ongoing persecution of workers, the arrests of labor leaders, and the suppression of peaceful protests have not stopped workers from constantly trying to speak out about their worsening conditions and collapsing wages. The massive surge in prices, which has multiplied several times in just one year, along with the wage freeze and denial of long-established rights for workers, employees, and all wage earners, is pushing more and more sectors of the working class to protest and demand wage increases that keep up with rising costs.

The only way to confront these policies of persecution, repression, and crackdowns is through the solidarity of the working class. The authorities’ deceitful attempts to divide the labor and social movements no longer fool anyone. The same state that passed the Civil Service Law and promised some government employees that it wouldn’t affect them is the same state that raised prices for everyone. The authorities have always tried to split the labor movement through lies and manipulation, but now, their policies of repression, persecution, and impoverishment are uniting people. Solidarity and unity within the labor movement are the only way to confront these policies.

Supporting the workers who have been arrested and persecuted by security forces and management and gaining backing not only from their fellow workers but also from everyone who stands for democracy, freedom, and social justice is the only way forward. This isn’t just about protecting them but about protecting others who may soon face the same fate. Those who stand with the arrested labor leaders today are not just supporting them but defending themselves and safeguarding their future struggles.

It’s clear to everyone that the demands of the labor and social movements are, at their core, demands against rising prices and impoverishment, even if these demands take on different forms, like calls for bonuses or incentives. That’s why it’s essential to unify the demands of the entire labor movement, just as the movement once unified around the demand for a minimum wage, raising that demand in every strike and protest. Today, with the ongoing waves of price increases, the minimum demand should be for wage increases that match the accumulated inflation since July 2014, the year austerity policies began up until now.
Solidarity with the detainees, unifying demands, and organizing the movement are the only ways to challenge the policies of impoverishment, repression, and persecution. This is the message the authorities need to hear, just as past regimes eventually did—they need to understand that what they’re trying to suppress today will only continue to grow.