Alexandria--Roughly 2000 employees of Egyptian steel manufacturer Ezz Steel continued a labor strike on Sunday for the fourth consecutive day. Strikers claim that the company, which is owned by ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) stalwart Ahmed Ezz, had failed to pay them their bonuses in full. According to Mohamed el-Sayed, the employees' chief negotiator, some 50 workers fainted during the strike. Ezz officials, for their part, say the company's general assembly had approved payment of bonuses for only nine months of the year in light of profit losses sustained by the company in the last fiscal year. Ezz Managing Director Alaa Abul Kheir asserted that Ezz Steel workers had received some of the largest bonuses in the steel industry. "Bonuses must be proportionate to profit margins," he explained. "Our workers received 16 percent of the total shareholder stake." In an earlier statement, however, workers pointed out that social bonuses had been reduced to 3 percent per year and annual raises to 8 percent. Annual production bonuses, meanwhile, had been gradually reduced by LE500 since 1996, according to the statement. While the company did raise allowances by 100 percent, workers describe the increase as "deceptive," saying the initial allowances had been unrealistically low. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
