Workers at Misr El-Amria Spinning & Weaving Co. in Alexandria continued their strike on Wednesday. The strike had begun last Thursday, with workers demanding a 25% raise on base salaries in hazard allowances, in line with engineers, and the remediation for violations of minimum wage.
Two workers told Al Manassa that employees in the finishing department decided to operate bleaching machines for the well-being of the company, “only” to process “wet raw materials” and prevent fabric damage, after which workers will resume the full strike.
A worker, who requested anonymity, said the strike started first in the finishing department and later in garments and furnishings. She added that anger escalated after chief executive Mohamed Sayed Abdel Salam approved a raise of 250 Egyptian pounds for employees with intermediate and above-intermediate qualifications across all departments, but which excluded workers without formal qualifications. According to the source, even those who benefited from the increase refused this distinction.
“This isn’t the first time raises have been applied unevenly,” she added. “The company head previously approved a 30% monthly increase for engineers and higher-degree holders in administrative departments, while workers without qualifications, as well as those with intermediate and above-intermediate qualifications, were excluded.”
A second worker, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said the demands include correcting violations in how the minimum wage is applied. He noted that management violates labor laws by counting bonuses and holiday pay as part of the minimum wage, adding that the company head had long promised to resolve the issue, but action has yet to be taken.
The source also shared that other demands include raising the finishing incentive to 700 pounds, increasing the hazard allowance from 375–500 pounds, and boosting wages by 100 pounds for each year of service. Workers have also renewed calls to terminate contracts of consultants, department heads, and other employees hired superfluously on contracts with monthly salaries of hundreds of thousands of pounds, and to reassign their duties to existing company staff.
Last year, the Alexandria Directorate of Labor had sent a letter to the company urging it to correct violations related to the application of the minimum wage and the calculation of overtime pay. The directorate stressed that overtime should be calculated based on the worker’s total wage and should not be included within the minimum wage, while bonuses, allowances, and grants provided after applying the minimum wage remain outside that threshold.
Although the company corrected this violation by calculating overtime based on total wages and excluding it from the minimum wage, it refused to apply this retroactively for the past two years. As a result, workers filed complaints with the Alexandria Directorate of Labor in October, which were later referred to the courts.
At the end of February, workers in the garments and finishing sectors staged a strike in protest of a sudden increase in payroll deductions. The strike lasted until March 3, when it was suspended following a meeting between worker representatives and chief executive Mohamed Sayed Abdel Salam, during which they presented several demands, including wage, and allowance increases. The company head pledged to consider their demands.
Last year, Misr El-Amreya workers had also staged a 16-day strike protesting what they described as “manipulation in applying the minimum wage.” The strike led to the resignation of the previous CEO. Workers ultimately ended the action, pressured by threats of dismissal and police referrals. They were, however, successful in securing some demands, including an official letter from the Alexandria Directorate of Labor calling on the company to correct violations related to overtime and minimum wage calculations.
