Workers at the Pirelli tire company in Alexandria accused the executive director of the company there, Karim Qaddas, of trying to smear the workers to sway public opinion in the company’s favor.
In a statement on Tuesday, the workers said that his recent interview with Al-Masry Al-Youm included several fallacies, such as his accusation that the workers are seeking personal gain, which the workers say is untrue as they are in fact only seeking the application of the law.
The workers added that Qaddas does not pay bonuses, as is stipulated in an agreement with workers in the northern military zone, in spite of receiving letters from the manpower and financial ministries. The law states that 10 percent of profits should be disbursed to a company’s workers, which Qaddas refuses to do, they said.
Ashraf al-Ghazzar, head on the worker’s union, said that Qaddas claimed that the workers’ strike, which has entered its second month, is demanding that the company fire five workers. Ghazzar pointed out that this was illogical.
“Qaddas claimed that the company’s administration was ready for negotiations, which is untrue. He has been rejecting negotiations with the union since the beginning of the strike. He wants to choose who to negotiate with, despite insistence from the workers that the trade union’s committee is their only legitimate representative,” he said.
The company is refusing negotiations to “humiliate and intimidate workers and make them starve,” Ghazzar concluded.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
