Egyptian bus workers settle strike

Bus drivers, mechanics and conductors all over Egypt started walking off their jobs in late February, angry about low salaries, long hours and poorly maintained buses. According to Le Egyptien Progrès, these workers settled with the Public Transportation Authority on March 27, with retiring workers getting a bonus of two months pay for every year they have worked. Their other demands are to be met later.

Al-Ahram cited one driver who said that the officials on the PTA board “all belong to the former regime. They do not want to meet our needs, they do not represent us, they should be chosen among us, and they are nothing but corrupt officials.” He concluded, “We will strike again if the government breaks its promises.”

The PTA lost about $160,000 a day during the strike, and the 50 army buses they managed to scrape up couldn’t really provide the service that Cairo needs to move.

According to a Real Television News video, in a very militant picket line held in front of the Parliament in Cairo — so militant that security closed the metal shutters on the building — workers chanted: “Listen up lords and ladies! A kilo of meat is $1.60!” “Who are they and who are we? They’re the ones who travel by plane while we die on the buses!” “They’re all dressed in the latest fashion! And we’re living 10 to a room!” and “Listen up money men! You’re a bunch of thieves!”

One of the strikers explains in the video that basic pay is 343 Egyptian pounds — less than $25 — a month. “What can you do with 343 pounds?” he asks. “A month’s rent is 200 pounds, which leaves less than 150. How can you feed a family on that?”

Beyond the transportation workers, who have a very strategic impact on the economy of Egypt, significant numbers of both public and private workers in Egypt have been challenging their bosses.

Workers interviewed on the streets have been quick to point out that it was a general strike that sealed the end of ex-President Hosni Mubarak’s regime.