Labor leaders continued their campaign against Mohamed ElBaradei yesterday after he called for the abolishing of the 50 percent quota for farmers and workers within parliament. ElBaradei is the former director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency and a potential candidate in the 2011 presidential elections.
Abdel Rahman Kheir, vice president of the Helwan trade union and a member of the Shura Council, severely criticized ElBaradei and expressed his complete support for President Mubarak who he described as the "guarantor of the rights of Egypt’s workers and the person who upholds the principles of the July revolution."
ElBaradei’s calls to amend the Constitution are a "political joke," said Kheir, adding that ElBaradei did not live in Egypt nor fight for its land. ElBaradei, he added, does not understand the problems of the people like President Mubarak does, and he was not an employee so he cannot claim he wants to be president to represent the people. The trade unions reject dialogue with ElBaradei, Kheir added.
The Helwan Trade Union issued a statement arguing that abolishing the quota for workers and farms violates international conventions, according to which workers have the right to participate in political decision-making.
Mohamed el-Sayyed Morsy, president of the general trade union for public utility workers and a member of the Shura Council, said he only heard of ElBaradei at the time of the US invasion if Iraq. ElBaradei’s tours in the governorates and his statements on issues that do not concern him requires that the people "stand against him," he concluded.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
