Appeal for Solidarity
The employees of the Real Estate Taxes Authority
establish
THE INDEPENDENT GENERAL UNION OF RETA WORKERS
On behalf of the employees of the Real Estate Taxes Authority in Egypt, the General Committee for Strike, express its thanks for the support and solidarity you showed with our struggle to improve our labour conditions. Your role is highly appreciated and shows the importance of Labour Solidarity provided by International Trade Union Movement in supporting legitimate workers' struggle protesting the insult to their rights and the restrictions that have been imposed on their freedom of association. Your stand for the removal of all those restrictions and promotion of trade union rights and freedoms is very crucial worldwide and means a lot for all of us.
The General Committee for Strike at the RETA was elected directly and freely by the 55,000 employees and staff deployed all over Egypt. It has been the alternative that emerged out of a need expressed within the strike evolved from the actual gap left by the state-backed General Union for Banks, Insurance and finance Section' employees, in defending workers interests. Rather than show solidarity with and provide support for the struggle of thousands of employees, the "official" General Union board and the Egyptian Trade Union Federation [ETUF] raised doubts about the movement and legitimacy of its demands, turning the state bodies against it. The movement of the employees and staff of the Real Estate Taxes Authority not only suffered from all forms of state harassment and pressurization, but also from the lack of support and condemnation on the part of the "official trade union organization", as a result of the Trade Union Legislation in Egypt, which imposes draconian restrictions on the Local Trade Union Committees (base unions).
The forming of the General Committee was almost the possible alternative to coordinate and develop the movement. The new-born structure has aimed to express the employees' interests, embody their demands, and organize advocacy and mobilization activities to improve their labour conditions. A related objective was to achieve the democratization of the movement, by stimulating, encouraging employees' participation, building and developing its democratic mechanizes and structures.
Due to all the above, the Committee has been able to gain the appreciation and credibility of the majority of the employees, especially because the committee was able to highlight their demand for equality between the employees in governorates with their counterparts in the main Real Estate Taxes Authority in Cairo, conducting a series of actions to achieve it.
This protesting movement topped in announcing and implementing of a full strike in all RETA offices all over the country, accompanied by a sit in with 10,000 employees in front of the prime minister office in Cairo from 3 -14 December, 2007, the protest led into holding direct negotiations between the General Committee for strike and Mr. Youssef Boutros-Ghali Finance Minister, where we achieved our announced goals.
The achieved results encouraged the RETA employees to mandate the committee to continue its negotiations with the minister for further implementation of the their demands and to improve their labour conditions and the professional performance, as well to begin its work at establishing an independent union for RETA workers. Accordingly, the General Committee was has been authorized to take all the needed measures to materialize the project. The independent trade union for RETA workers aimed to be their genuine voice reflecting their interests, representing their independent movement and calling for their rights.
· To achieve its goals the General committee has done the following steps:
· Contact a board in every governorate to discuss and consolidate the idea of having an independent union; this led to the formation of sub-committees in various provinces to ensure real and effective communications between the committee and rank and file level.
· Issuing of a newspaper based at RETA employees' capabilities and contributions to raise awareness of the employees regarding their economic and social rights and their right to establish their independent unions.
· Attempt to set up a welfare fund to ensure adequate compensation for employees upon retirement.
· Collecting of endorsement signatures for the union; 15,000 signatures collected so far;
· Developing relations with the International Trade Union Movement to increase recognition of the RETA employees' movement and its independent trade union structure.
· Examine the legal and technical aspects of founding an independent union, as the Egyptian workers are prevented form establishment their independent unions other than the unique Egyptian Trade Union Structure [ETUF]-according to the trade union law.
The struggles of RETA workers in the fourth quarter of 2007 had witnessed remarkable democratic practices, represented in the ability to manage the protests, qualified self-organization and negotiations, the democratic selection of representatives and women participating and representing in leadership structures. All of these positive and valuable experiences have increased the employees' aspirations to establish their independent union that can be able to reflect their interests in transparency consistent.
On behalf of the employees and staff of the Real Estate Taxes Authority in Egypt, we call upon you to support their legitimate movement to establish their independent union, calling for the removal of all legislative restrictions imposed on it, towards the achievement of the of the trade union movement in Egypt, and the regaining of the right to freedom of association.
In this regard we appeal for your solidarity in the following issues:
· Protecting our union delegates, who started facing pressures and intimidation by the administration and security. Our colleague Khaled Mubarak from Aswan Governorate, has been transferred to the Administrative Prosecution because of collecting signatures for the union, another colleague Abdul Nasser Hussein, summoned by the State Security in Beni Suef governorate for interrogation over his union activities; colleague Mohamed Khalaf from Suhag governorate was prevented from collecting signatures and colleague Kamal Abu Eita suffered several administrative sanctions for his leadership role in the Supreme Committee for Strike and many other cases—all indicators show that an organized campaign started against the creation of an independent union, a matter that needs international support
· Access to technical support to develop our union structure and bylaws in line with international standards by sending some models and experiences that may be useful in for us
· Access to similar experiences and networking with other unions
· Access to training materials (modules) about workers education, trade union rights, ILS and collective bargaining
· Assistance in the training of some trade union cadres in as educators.
We hope to hear form you the soonest,
Please accept our sincere appreciation,
The Independent General Union of RETA Workers "Under Establishment"
General Committee for Strike "Formerly"
Committee Representative
Email: freeunion.taxcollectors@gmail.
NB: We are ready to provide you with necessary documents to confirm the authenticity of all what we had mentioned in our letter.
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