Egypt: independent union at IFFCO under attack

Workers at the IFFCO edible oils factory in Suez, Egypt are fighting to defend their independent union. When the workers went on strike in a dispute over wages in December, the company filed a police report against 15 workers, including 9 union members. On December 29, police raided the homes of the union president and general secretary and four other workers. And on January 3, police stormed the factory and arrested 13 striking workers. Twenty-three IFFCO workers and leaders and members of the IFFCO Egypt Labour Union now face crippling fines and jail terms at their sentencing on January 29 for the 'crime' of holding a strike to defend their wages. The workers are barred from the factory. CLICK HERE TO SEND A MESSAGE TO IFFCO AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF EGYPT!

The attack on the IFFCO union follows severe repression against the Cairo bus workers and Alexandria shipyard workers and their unions. The state-controlled Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF) is an integral part of the machinery of repression. The ETUF has denounced the independent union and called on IFFCO management to refuse to recognize it. The company has used ETUF's intervention to cease deducting workers' membership fees and continue the anti-union campaign.

The IFFCO workers need your support. It is now more urgent than ever to support workers in Egypt fighting to preserve the space for independent organization they struggled for in the democratic upsurge which toppled Mubarak. CLICK HERE TO SEND A MESSAGE TO THE COMPANY AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF EGYPT!

IFFCO Egypt is part of the IFFCO group of companies based in the United Arab Emirates, with manufacturing sites in ten countries. IFFCO is owned by India's giant Allana Group, a major transnational producer of processed food products.