Police brutality: Government's solution for workers problems
The government of the ruling NDP could not tolerate the sit-in of information centers employees in front of parliament for fear of a new wave of workers strikes and protests, which over the past months have exposed the government’s failure in responding to their problems as well as it is flagrant alliance with business ministers and ruling party leadership. The 11th of October 2010 witnessed police harassment of more than 600 information employees as they arrived in Cairo from several governorates and tried to gather in front of parliament. Towards the end of the day the gathering, which managed to reach the Kasr El Aini Street, was brutally dispersed.
This police brutality does not only expose the lies of the government and the electoral program of the party and the president, but provides evidence for the persistence of oppression and corruption policies. While the ruling party has nominated General Abdel Salam Mahgoub, minister of local development and responsible for the information employees, as its representative in Alexandria for the next parliamentary elections, promising his constituency prosperity and welfare, the same minister refuses to respond to the demands of his own employees, 5000 of which reside in the governorate of Alexandria.
Employees and workers who managed to break the state of emergency and challenged the unjust labor laws as well as enforced their protests and demonstrations for months in front of parliament, will not be terrorized by the police brutality and will not go into hiding. The rates of poverty, low wages and increasing prices, all products of the ruling party policy, will continue to drive the workers to take action in defense of their livelihood and for a dignified standard of living.
Groups and organizations signatory to this statement express their firm solidarity with the information employees against corruption and the dictatorship of the government and the party as well as security assaults against them; signatories also support the right of employees to strike to realize their legitimate demands, foremost their right to
- Equality with government employees
- A rise in their monthly wages from 99 LE (17 $) to 320 LE (56 $) for medium qualification and 381 LE (67 $) for high qualification
- Social and health insurance
Long live the struggle of employees
Signatories
Independent union of real estate tax collectors
Center for socialist studies
Preparatory workers committee
Popular democratic movement for change (Hashd)
Socialist Horizons Center
Revolutionary Socialists
Egyptian Communist Party
Socialist innovation tendency
Center for trade union and workers services
Al Karama party
Workers’ coordination committee
Tadamon (solidarity) group
El Helali foundation for liberties
Justice and Freedom youth
El Nadim Center
Association for freedom of thought and expression
Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights
Hisham Mubarak Law Center
Arabic Center for Human Rights Information
Sons of the land foundation for human rights
Land Center for human rights
Egyptian Initiative for personal rights