Kudos to Egypt’s First Independent Trade Union

Thousands of RETA Union members celebrate the birth of their new union.

This is a cross-post from the Solidarity Center.

In a historic move for the Egyptian labor movement, the 27,000-member Real Estate Tax Authority (RETA) Union is slated to become Egypt’s first independent union, reports the Center for Trade Union & Workers’ Services (CTUWS), a partner of the AFL-CIO’s Solidarity Center. 

Yesterday, more than 300 representatives of the RETA union’s General Assembly gathered at Egypt’s Ministry of Manpower in Cairo to submit their application to become the first independent union in Egypt.

The new union also has affiliated with Public Services International, the global union that represents public sector workers worldwide. PSI’s 620 affiliated unions represent 20 million members in 160 countries.

RETA employees voted to form a union in December 2008, following a year-long struggle including a nationwide strike and a 12-day sit-in by 10,000 workers in front of the prime minister’s office in Cairo, where they demanded equality for their brothers and sisters in outlying areas. By Dec. 13, they had collected more than 15,000 signatures.

Although the government agreed to negotiate with the workers, it retaliated against union organizers, harassing and interrogating those who had collected signatures, according to CTUWS. In January 2009, RETA held its first constituent conference, drawing more than 3,000 participants. Government approval of the application is the final step.

 The new union will express RETA employees’ interests, embody their demands, and organize advocacy and mobilization activities to improve their labor conditions. A related objective is to democratize the labor movement in Egypt by stimulating and encouraging member participation and by building and developing RETA’s democratic mechanisms and structures.

CTUWS called on the global union movement to support the RETA employees’ effort to establish their independent union, “a basic granted right as stated in international treaties ratified by the Egyptian government.”

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