Some 300 workers of the Samo factory for ready-made garments in Port Said went on strike Wednesday. The workers say they have not received salaries for two months and that management often deducts from their income and threatens them with layoffs. Meanwhile, workers at the Dobera Spinning and Weaving Company in Ismailia went on strike, saying the company's production manager assaulted a colleague. They also requested that the minister of manpower penalize the company illegally for recruiting foreign workers. In Sharqiya, 100 villagers staged a demonstration before the provincial headquarters to protest the housing ministry's confiscation of their homes, which are scheduled for demolition to make way for a water pipeline. The villagers have been ordered to evacuate their homes within two weeks. "We will give them adequate compensation," said Sabry Oda, manager of the water supply project. In Menoufiya, 250 workers of the Minotex factory for blankets continued their sit-in for a second day to protest the company management's offer to sell the factory at a public auction next Saturday. In Gharbiya, nurses of the public chest hospital ended their sit-in after the administration agreed to pay them 75 percent of the bonuses they requested. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
