Over 200 Egyptian fishermen in Greece have entered their fourth week of strikes against deteriorating financial conditions and what they say is their continual humiliation at the hands of Greek boat owners.
The fishermen say they have petitioned the Egyptian embassy in Greece for help, but received no response. The fishermen subsequently took their demands to the Greek courts, which upheld their right to strike and to form their own association demanding financial rights.
Waheed el-Khenity, a fisherman who recently returned from Greece, says that what Egyptian fishermen are subjected to, especially in Greece, is a source of humiliation for all Egyptians.
According to el-Khenity, around 400 Egyptian fishermen, most of whom are legal residents in Greece, have seen their financial status deteriorate after Greek boat owners reduced their pay to minimum wage, not exceeding 200 euros per month. El-Khenity said that owners cut salaries in order to drive Egyptian fishermen out of the country and replace them with cheaper seasonal laborers.
Ahmed Fouda, another recent returnee from Greece, says the fishermen’s salaries are no longer enough to cover accommodation expenses. He adds that fishermen are often denied their legal right to know the weight of the fish they caught, which determines their pay.
Fouda says fishermen’s salaries are incommensurate with how much they work and that boat owners often threaten to dismiss them.
Mohamed el-Mowafi, another returnee, says that after Egyptian fishermen consulted with the Egyptian embassy in Greece, Mohieddin Tantawi, the labor affairs consultant at the embassy, met with the Greek boat owners. The outcome of the four-hour meeting, Fouda says, was an agreement with the boat owners containing unacceptable conditions which they attempted to have the fishermen sign.
The fishermen, according to Fouda, continued their strike and to the matter to the Greek judiciary, which upheld their right to peaceful strikes and to the formation of an Egyptian fishermen association for the defense of fishermen’s rights. The Greek boat owners have appealed the ruling.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
