Kamal abu Eita: How we built the free union

On the occasion of Labour Day I've attempted to do a rough translation of the first half of an article by Kamal abu Eita (shown in the picture above during one of the protests held by the real estate tax collectors back in november 2007), head of the RETA union, that was published in The Socialist.

I left out some parts and simplified orthers, and the translation probably contains mistakes (bear in mind that besides the many pitfalls of the arabic language, I'm also translating into another foreign language). I'm sure someone will produce a better translation of the entire article at some point, but meanwhile I hope this will still give non-arabic speaking readers access to an important piece of the background to the creation of Egypt's first independent union since 1957.

I think this article is significant because it illustrates the final abandonment of the dream of reforming the state-controlled union confederation by low-level unionists. In this article, Kamal abu Eita is expressing an attitude that is becoming more and more widespread as privatization and liberalization of the economy makes the state controlled union less and less relevant.

By the way, I also recommend reading the posting by Baheyya from january last year about Kamal abu Eita and the tax collectors strike.

The free union - how did we build it?
Kamal abu Eita

15 April 2009

Published in: "The Socialist"

The first time i participated in a discussion about independent unions, and about the idea of pluralism, was at a conference organized by the Al-Tagammu party - back in the days when Al-Tagammu was really "united" - when one of the veteran unionists, Atiyah Al-Sirafi, explanined the idea. This was almost 25 years ago, and I wasn't convinced by the idea since by that time I was influenced by the idea of a single unified trade union federation - an idea connected with socialist thought in general, and Nasserism in particular.

/---/

In the middle of the seventies we lived in a dream that was impossible to realize: To transform the Socialist Union from within and stopping the advance of the right within it, as the right was advancing towards control over the sites of power and resources in Egypt, with the support of the regime of Anwar Al-Sadat who laid the first brick to the wall of corruption when he issued Law 43 of 1974, the law of foreign investment. This was the beginning of the economic Infitah ("opening") which brough Egypt to this state of corruption, tyrrany and organized plundering.

The discussion which started a quarter of a century ago never stopped. 'Atiyah Al-Sirafi continued his calls for a conference of Egyptian workers to form a union independent from the state, which continued to withdraw from it's historical role to protect the interests of working people and left them to be plundered by the forces of the market.

/---/

The influence of working people on decision making was reduced, as was their representation in the political organizations, and on the company boards. Against this background I started to believe in the idea of Atiyah Al-Sirafi. The discussion about his idea moved from the circles of the Tagammu party to the "national committé to support the rights of workers," led by Ahmed Sharaf al-Din, where the idea took root.

In this way my position changed from defense of a single union federation into defending the freedom to organize. And I was pushed in this direction by the happiness i felt during my union work, within the official union, that had withdrawn completely from it's role in protecting it's members and become devoted to writing thank you telegrams to officials and employers. It neglected the workers completely, and had become and organization swarming with half-men, half-women, the worst of whom were the eunuch leaders who weren't much much better than any part of the state bureaucracy - but rather the opposite: within the state bureaucracy i encountered women who were a thousand times more honorable than the union leaders.

The union federation became a foundation of corruption, devoted to corruption, defending it and propagating it. At the successive general assemblies I heard more speeches justifying privatization than I heard from the businessmen. And those benefiting from the privatization was selling the resources of the Egyptian people for close to nothing in front of the eyes of the official unions. So the workers left the factories to join the ranks of the unemployed or to sell brushed or combs in the streets or on the buses. The regime succeeded, with encouragement from the official unions, in turning the labour force into homeless vagrants, or in the best case vendors of trivial goods.

I remember how I and the union activist Faiz al-Kartah, when we were writing the program of the Karama party in 1997, insisted on including the principle of the freedom to form labour unions and professional syndicates - and I admitt that many of our brothers didn't realize then how important this step was.

But this line written in the program of the Karama party couldn't be realized simply being written down. I spent 20 years with my colleagues working within the official union, being elected as head of my union committé. I was trying, by working within the official union, to realize the demands of my colleagues within the real estate tax authority - but always in vain.

In 1999 we tried, through the general union, to pressure for an incentive that had been decided by the prime minister. The head of the union took our demands and wrote a letter to the officials, who replied by saying we didn't have any right to that incentive. So what could the union head do, other than writing on the cover of the union magazine - that was being published for our membership fees - a headline that repeated that we didn't have this right? That's all the effort he did.

/---/

After that me and my colleagues from the local union committees gathered and decided to hold a meeting at the general union. Faruq Shehata, the head of the union, called security and threw us out. But we continued our struggle, untill one day we held a protest outside the People's Assembly and a delegation from us met a delegation from the speaker. Then we went to Mohi el-Din el-Gharib, who was finance minister at that time, and he gave in to our demands.

This victory demonstrated the failure of the official union, who had betrayed us and was defending the employers. But after this we relaxed, and remained sleeping for almost ten years without cutting our relations the official union.

Then came the new movements that brought life back to Egypt, and the strike in Mahalla, and the new wave of price increases, which all reminded us of our old victory. We started calling each other and meeting in cafés, homes and workplaces. We became organized, so the union attacked us with a flood of statements and lies, pressuring the workers not to have anything to do with the "professional agitators and troublemakers," as they called us, in addition to informing security about us.

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If I can find the time I'll post more later. But the rest, as they say, is history: from the 11-day strike and sit in outside the cabinet, to the official establishment of Egypt's first independent union on 20 December 2008 and the acceptance of the RETA union into the international federation of public servants.