| Description |
1 online resource (v, 25 pages) |
| Series |
Carnegie papers |
|
Working papers (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace)
|
| Contents |
Summary -- Labor finds a voice -- The labor movement under Mubarak -- Economic and political demands -- Workers and the 2011 popular uprising -- Workers turn to politics -- Workers' gains -- Tensions in the labor movement -- The parliamentary arena -- Where do we go from here? |
| Summary |
Workers have long sought to bring change to the Egyptian system, yet the independent labor movement has only recently begun to find a nationwide voice. As Egypt's sole legal trade union organization and an arm of the state for nearly sixty years, the Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF) has had a monopoly on representing workers. Though its mission is to control workers as much as it is to represent them, ETUF has been unable to prevent the militant labor dissidence that has escalated since the late 1990s. Workers were by far the largest component of the burgeoning culture of protest in the 2000s that undermined the legitimacy of the Mubarak regime. Commonly seeking to co-opt rather than openly contest the regime's power, the independent labor movement was unprepared to take the lead when unrest swept through the Arab world in January 2011. It had no nationally recognized leadership, few organizational or financial resources, limited international support, no political program, and only a minimal economic program. Despite this, workers were quick to mobilize in the early stages of the groundswell that eventually unseated Hosni Mubarak, and they deserve more credit for his ouster than they typically receive. Soon after the uprising began, workers violated ETUF's legal monopoly on trade union organization and formed the Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions (EFITU) -- the first new institution to emerge from the revolt. Labor mobilization continued at an unprecedented level during 2011 and early 2012, and workers established hundreds of new, independent enterprise-level unions. They also secured a substantially higher minimum wage. Yet, though the labor movement has made headway, problems persist. Going forward, the independent labor movement should consider looking beyond street protests over immediate grievances, where it has achieved its greatest successes, and begin training enterprise-level leaderships and forging political coalitions with sympathetic sections of the intelligentsia. Independent trade unions remain the strongest nationally organized force confronting the autocratic tendencies of the old order. If they can solidify and expand their gains, they could be an important force leading Egypt toward a more democratic future |
| Notes |
Title from PDF title page (viewed on July 26, 2012) |
|
"June 2012." |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 21-23) |
| Subject |
Labor movement -- Egypt
|
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Labor unions -- Egypt
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Working class -- Political activity -- Egypt
|
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Labor movement
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Labor unions
|
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Working class -- Political activity
|
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Egypt
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| Form |
Electronic book
|
| Author |
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
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