The struggle of workers in Mahalla for decent pay and the right to organise and strike has touched a chord with trade unionists around the world. Within hours of the launch of our solidarity statement, messages of support have come in from trade unionist activists and leaders in New Zealand, the UK, the USA and Canada and many other countries, along with support from Petros Constantinou, elected councillor from Athens municipality in Greece and solidarity from academics in the USA and UK.

Eight workers from Mahalla are facing victimisation by company management and repression by the Egyptian authorities after managers singled them out on charges of organising the two-week long strike which mobilised thousands of workers in August this year. On 9 September, Misr Spinning management suspended two women (Wala’a Mohamed Abd-al-Ra’uf and Nagwa Sa’ad Abd-al-Qadir) and four men (Mohamed Al-Sayyed Misbah, Amru Rifa’at Salama, Amir Gamal Hassan and Karim Hossam Isma’il) from work and reported them to the police on charges of “incitement to strike”, and “obstructing work”. Another worker, Yasser Fahmi has been forcibly transferred to Alexandria, while administrator Tala’at al-Umari has had his pay docked. The company also delayed payment of workers’ September pay packets. Meanwhile, riot police remain deployed across the town in a bid to pre-empt further protests.

Read the full list of signatures and messages of support online here:

Take action now:

• Add your name to the solidarity statement
• Send a message of support
• Circulate the statement to your union branch and share on social media