Sarah Carr reports…
An International Labor Organization (ILO) official has repudiated allegations made by Egyptian daily Al-Masry Al-Youm that the ILO is planning to take punitive measures against Egypt.
The article, published Wednesday claims that the ILO is “disdainful” of the Ministry of Manpower’s “ignoring” of recommendations concerning violations of workers’ rights in Egypt and state interference [...]

State Security police interrogated yesterday Abdel Nasser Abdallah, one of the December 2007 Tax Collectors’ strike leaders, whose efforts are central to the establishment of the new independent union committee in Bani Suweif.
Abdel Nasser was contacted several times by SS officer Hisham of Bani Sueif, requesting he showed up for interrogation. After refusing to show [...]

The US Socialist Worker reports on preparations for a possible strike by the second-largest teachers union in America

“The state of fear has broken down,” said Sayyed el-Badri of Alexandria’s Teachers’ Voice. I hear this sentence a lot in activist meetings nowadays…

“There are two systems for education in Egypt,” said Omar Morsi, a Cairo teacher, during the Saturday protest. “A foreign system for the children of the rich, who live in closed compounds and lead a different life-style; and the other one for the children of the ugly duckling–our children! The first one has all the [...]

Kamal Abu Eita, addressing other members of the Higher Committee for the Real Estate Tax Collectors’ Strike who convened in Cairo on Saturday, to carry on their fight to build what will be Egypt’s first independent labor union in half a century…

Sarah Carr has a detailed report in the Daily News Egypt on the Saturday afternoon teachers’ protest in Downtown Cairo…

From the Daily News Egypt…
Thirty-two factory workers have been arbitrarily dismissed from their jobs after protesting both the dismissal of a colleague and the failure of their employers to provide pay raises to which they are entitled.
Safaa Qandeel, an employee at El-Hennawy Tobacco factory, Damanhour, was dismissed following allegations that she ripped up her employment [...]

The Independent General Union of Real Estate Tax Collectors [Under Establishment] has started its move to establish “solidarity funds” in the different provinces, and hired a professional financial accountant to set officially the arithmetic of deserved pension funds in relation to salaries and years of service. An official letter was sent to the head of [...]

Tarek el-Awadi and Hanaa Hanna, two of the Cairo candidates on the United Left List, running for the Lawyers’ Syndicate Council elections…

Other candidates include Waleed el-Sayyed, Abdel Salam Rezq and Mohamed Besht…

Real Estate Tax Collector’s Free Union activist Abdel Nasser Abdallah…