Egyptian under attack for plan to form workers party

Cairo: After unveiling a plan to set up the first political party for workers in Egypt, Abdulrahman Kheir, a leftist, has been under fire from many people, including trade unionists.

"His assurances, that the envisaged party would not replace the Egyptian Trade Unions Federation, has not won over opponents.

"This party will not be based on secessionists from the Egyptian Trade Unions Federation. Rather, it will help the federation in supporting the causes of workers," Kheir, a member of the advisory Shura Council of the Egyptian Parliament, told Gulf News.

"Egyptian workers have been seeking to establish a political party since 1924, because they feel that their problems do not draw enough attention from the existing political parties and groups," he added.

"Over recent months, Egypt has been rocked by a series of labour protests against price hikes and low wages. On April 6, a protest against price rises in the industrial city of Al Mahala Al Koubra, some 110km north of Cairo, developed into violent clashes with police and left three civilians dead. Workers say that a 30 per cent rise in wages, declared by President Hosni Mubarak a few weeks later, has been devoured by a new spate of price increases and taxes.

"The new party will infuse fresh blood into the leftist movement and advocate the agenda of workers in Egypt," asserted Kheir, who is also a member of the leftist Tagamuh Party.

"He unveiled that the founders of the party, expected to be called the Egyptian Workers, would apply for licensing in October. He, however, declined to give the names of the founders, whom he said comprise of politicians and trade unionists, for fear they would "come under security and political pressure" to drop their plan.

"The call for establishing such a party is illegal," said Ahmad Al Amawi, an ex-Minister of Labour and a veteran trade unionist. "The Egyptian Constitution bans the creation of political parties on religious and class grounds. Workers are a class who accordingly do not have the right to set up their own political party," Al Amawi told the independent newspaper Al Masri Al Youm.

Instead, Al Amawi, an MP, suggested the creation of a "general political party," whose manifesto would also cover issues of concern for workers. "It may even be better for workers and people who want to establish new parties to join hands in order to rejuvenate the present Egyptian parties, which are plagued by divisions and wrangling," he added.

Al Amawi ruled out the possibility that a governmental committee, responsible for approving political parties in Egypt, would license a party for workers "because it is against the Constitution."