Egypt’s health insurer cut off treatment for 600 Samanoud textile workers as garment workers near Cairo briefly struck over annual raises, workers and rights advocates said.
The Health Insurance Authority in Gharbiya governorate suspended medical services for about 600 workers at Wabariyat Samanoud, citing company debts exceeding 15 million Egyptian pounds, two workers told Al Manassa.
Workers said the company continues to deduct insurance contributions from salaries, while more than half of those affected rely on monthly medication for chronic illnesses. A worker said health insurance staff told them, “We have orders to stop any examinations for Wabariyat Samanoud workers. The company has to pay the money it owes first.”
Workers in the spinning and weaving company said the disruption began when the insurer refused to renew expired health cards, then expanded to halt monthly medication for chronic patients. They said the Health Insurance Hospital in Samanoud also stopped receiving worker-patients, including some whose cards were still valid.
A woman worker said more than 300 workers, most of them women, live with chronic illnesses such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and asthma, and have been forced to pay out of pocket for essential medication, adding that workers are being made to shoulder a dispute they did not cause because insurance is deducted monthly from wages.
The Center for Trade Union and Workers’ Services (CTUWS) condemned the suspension as “arbitrary,” arguing workers are not party to the debt dispute and that depriving chronic patients of treatment violates basic rights. In a statement, CTUWS said legal responsibility lies with company management and urged authorities to pursue overdue payments without infringing on workers’ treatment rights. It also warned that restrictions on union activity and fears of retaliation deter workers from filing complaints or taking legal action.
Meanwhile, in Obour City, workers at the Turkish-Egyptian Garment Manufacturing Co., known as T&C, ended a partial strike after about five hours after management promised to review an annual raise workers said was too low. “How do we feed our children on 6,000 or 7,000 pounds?” one worker said.
T&C workers said the announced annual raise ranged from 400 to 700 pounds, while many workers’ wages remain below the 7,000-pound minimum wage, including workers with more than 15 years of service. They said the stoppage was uneven across departments and began spontaneously, with some workers preferring to delay escalation until after January wages were paid to avoid salary pressure during a strike.
A worker said management used the fact that not all departments joined to press strikers to end the action in exchange for a promise of review, which the worker described as “just promises to end the strike,” while not ruling out more organized protests after January salaries are paid.
Earlier strikes, arrests, and prosecutions
Both workplaces have seen earlier labor actions followed by pressure on workers and criminal cases. At Wabariyat Samanoud, workers struck for 35 days starting Aug. 18, 2024, over minimum wage implementation. Authorities arrested 10 workers on Aug. 25, 2024, including labor leader Hesham Al-Banna, and prosecutors ordered detention pending investigation in Case No. 7648 of 2024, Samanoud Administrative, before Al-Banna was later released and then dismissed, workers said.
At T&C, about 6,000 workers struck for 12 days in January 2025 over the lack of an annual raise, and workers described heavy pressure, intensified police presence, and arrests. The Obour Prosecution ordered detainees held pending investigation in Case No. 264 of 2025, Obour Misdemeanors, and the Khanka Summary Court later released them on 2,000-pound bail.
T&C employs about 6,000 workers in Egypt, roughly half of them women, and exports all production, with 70% going to the US market and 30% to European markets. The company operates under the Qualifying Industrial Zones (QIZ) agreement. In September 2024, T&C Chair Magdy Tolba said the company planned $35 million in new investments in Egypt.
