Cotton prices spur strike in Egypt

More than 4,000 workers and a factory owner in Mahalla, Egypt, marched on the city council to announce a strike involving 1,300 factories and fabric workshops squeezed by cotton prices, which have increased from £12 to £43 thousand per ton in the past six months. Among the changes sought by striking companies and textile workers are ceasing export of raw cotton-hair, halting a sales tax on cotton, removing subsidies for yarn export, imposing a levy on exported yarn, removing customs duties on imported yarn until the crisis is over, increasing customs duties on imported apparel and taking other measures to support an industry employing millions of Egyptians. The Center for Trade Union and Workers’ Services declared its solidarity with the strike and called upon officials to intervene to protect the industry.