Our Union is Our Weapon: Let Us Stand Against the Capitalist Onslaught in the Battles for Legalizing Independent Unions and Union Elections

Statement by the Revolutionary Socialists

One of the most significant victories for the Egyptian working class from the January 25th Revolution was winning the right to union freedom—the freedom for workers to form their unions outside of the state-controlled “General Federation of Egyptian Trade Unions,” which favored the interests of business owners. This sparked a wave of independent unions being established. Although these unions had their strengths and weaknesses, and some remained just symbolic, they undeniably served as a weapon that workers built with their own hands to fight against the exploitation and tyranny of capitalist power. Now, the Sisi regime, representing capitalist power, is trying to destroy this right through Law 213 of 2017 and its strict regulations, making it nearly impossible for unions to legalize their status. Their goal is to make the “General Federation” the only representative of workers.

The Sisi regime chose this moment to issue the labor unions law and hold union elections—which hadn’t happened since 2006—because it knew the balance of power was in its favor. The regime wanted to regain control over unions after the January 25th Revolution weakened it and tried to dismantle the “General Federation.” To better understand this attack on independent unions, we need to look at what recently happened with the Engineers’ Syndicate and, before that, the Journalists’ Syndicate, where the Sisi regime took control of both. The regime is strategically working to take over all labor and professional unions, knowing they have the potential to defend the rights of their members and could become a powerful tool to oppose its policies—policies that reflect the harsh capitalism shaped in collaboration with the International Monetary Fund. These policies include austerity measures like gradually lifting subsidies and imposing a value-added tax, which led to unprecedented price increases. At the same time, wages stayed the same, increasing salaries and pensions for ministers, planned privatization, and a new labor law that favored business owners at the expense of workers’ rights.

The fight to legalize independent unions is crucial to the broader democratic struggle. It’s about defending a democratic way of organizing and representing ourselves, something the people built and managed, not imposed from above by the regime. So, as workers, professionals, unions, political organizations, and civil society groups working for democracy, we must keep our resistance united to secure our right to organize and claim more rights and freedoms. The enemy is the same, and so is the fight. For the same reasons, labor unions need to stand in solidarity with political forces in their democratic struggles because there can be no union freedom without a free society.

We must also get ready for the upcoming union elections, even though we know this fight will take place under the regime’s repression and clear bias towards business owners, shown through security crackdowns, arrests of workers, or their dismissal or transfer. A clear example is what happened to the workers at “Bisco Misr,” where the police arrested several workers for protesting against not receiving their annual profits. We must engage in this unfair fight, using it as a starting point for resisting and defending our rights. The first step in preparing for this battle is to create an electoral program that demands our right to a minimum wage that keeps up with the rising cost of living.