<html>
<head>
</head>
<body class='hmmessage'><div dir='ltr'>
<style><!--
.hmmessage P
{
margin:0px;
padding:0px
}
body.hmmessage
{
font-size: 10pt;
font-family:Tahoma
}
--></style>
<div dir="ltr"><div><ol><li><pre style="line-height: 17px; white-space: normal; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font face="Tahoma" size="3"><b>Remember: The AFL-CIO, the National Endowment for Democracy, and Venezuela </b></font></pre></li><li><font size="3"><b><span style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Plantations, Prisons and Profits</span> </b></font></li><li><h2 class="ReadMsgSubject" style="line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font size="3">Two on American Airlines Bankruptcyþ</font></h2></li><li><font size="3"><b><a href="http://act.alternet.org/go/19035?t=15&akid=8849.16102.5Yca5N" target="_blank" style="line-height: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">Hostess Brands Uses Bankruptcy Court to Screw Workers Out of Pensions, Benefits</a> </b></font></li><li><h2 class="ReadMsgSubject" style="line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font size="3">Egypt's Labor Movement Finds its own Strengthþ </font></h2></li></ol><div><br></div></div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@</div><div><pre style="line-height: 17px; white-space: normal; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><b>Remember: The AFL-CIO, the National Endowment for Democracy, and<br>Venezuela</b> </pre><pre style="line-height: 17px; white-space: normal; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">The AFL-CIO's "Solidarity Center" (formally known as the<br>American Center for International Labor Solidarity or ACILS) was<br>actively involved in bringing together the leadership of the<br>right-wing Confederation of Venezuelan Workers (CTV) and that of the<br>business community FEDCAMARAS (along with at least some of the leaders<br>of the Catholic Church) just prior to the April 2002 coup attempt that<br>briefly deposed the democratically-elected President Hugo Chavez. This<br>I reported last year in the April 2004 issue of Labor Notes<br>(www.labornotes.org/archives/2004/04/articles/e.html. (For this put in<br>the larger context of AFL-CIO foreign policy, see my May 2005 article<br>in Monthly Review at www.monthlyreview.org/0505scipes.htm. [16]) <br><a href="http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Labor/SolidarityCtr_AFL_Venez.html" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Labor/SolidarityCtr_AFL_Venez.html</a></pre></div><div><p style="line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 1.35em; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Ariel, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-align: left; font-size: 12px; "><br></p></div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@</div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/26/opinion/blow-plantations-prisons-and-profits.html?_r=3&nl=todaysheadlines&adxnnl=1&emc=edit_th_20120526&adxnnlx=1338054014-nyOItJBbOK57ZzbAVJp4dQ">http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/26/opinion/blow-plantations-prisons-and-profits.html?_r=3&nl=todaysheadlines&adxnnl=1&emc=edit_th_20120526&adxnnlx=1338054014-nyOItJBbOK57ZzbAVJp4dQ</a>
</div><div><br></div><div><strong style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Plantations, Prisons and Profits<br></strong><font color="#cc0000" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: normal; "><a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=LV4yNrO9hv7PfLV772HSkkvDKaxNHVmH" target="_blank" style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Read the Article at the New York Times</a></font>
</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@</div><div><br></div><div><pre style="line-height: 17px; white-space: normal; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Two on American Airlines Bankruptcy<br><br><br>After closing arguments, bankruptcy judge advises<br>American to make a deal<br><br>By MARIA RECIO<br><br>The Miami Herald<br><br>Posted on Fri, May. 25, 2012<br><br><a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/25/2817515/after-closing-arguments-bankruptcy.html" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/25/2817515/after-closing-arguments-bankruptcy.html</a><br><br><br>As American Airlines made its final stand Friday in<br>U.S. bankruptcy court, the judge finished the lengthy<br>hearing on a surprising note by telling the courtroom<br>that the airline and its unions need to work toward a<br>deal.<br><br>In American Airlines' closing arguments after three<br>weeks of testimony, the company said its labor<br>contracts must be terminated for it to survive and<br>dismissed its unions' calls for a merger with US<br>Airways Group Inc. as "smoke and mirrors."<br><br>But U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Sean Lane said that<br>though he was prepared to rule by the June 22 deadline,<br>he would prefer not to.<br><br>"The only thing I have in front of me," he said of the<br>so-called Section 1113 hearing, "is whether to reject a<br>collective bargaining agreement. You're all still stuck<br>with each other. You still have to negotiate new<br>agreements."<br><br>Even if Lane abrogated agreements with the pilots,<br>flight attendants and transport workers, American would<br>still have to come to agreement with its unions.<br><br>"I urge, and I cannot urge this any more strongly, that<br>the parties resolve this where they need to resolve<br>this - the negotiating table," said Lane. "Regardless<br>of what I do, you're going to have to do it anyway."<br><br>Mediation is scheduled to start next week with the<br>labor groups before another judge of the bankruptcy<br>court, and Lane would like a resolution that does not<br>require him to make a decision. "I'll do it even if I'm<br>reluctant to do it," he said.<br><br>The trial has exposed the deep-seated distrust between<br>labor and management.<br><br>The carrier's parent, Fort Worth, Texas-based AMR<br>Corp., filed for bankruptcy in November and now is<br>trying to persuade the court to reduce its labor costs<br>as it moves to reorganize as a standalone company.<br>American's pilots, flight attendants and transport<br>workers counter that a prospective merger with U.S.<br>Airways, with which they have reached initial labor<br>agreements, is the viable solution.<br><br>American has been walking a fine line on the merger<br>issue, saying that it is irrelevant to the labor<br>contract hearing, but at the same time saying that the<br>carrier will consider consolidation as part of its<br>business strategy.<br><br>On Friday, however, the focus was on the short term -<br>the June 22 deadline as the carrier hemorrhages money.<br><br>"We don't know if consolidation is in the future," said<br>American Airlines attorney Jack Gallagher. "What we do<br>need is to get out of bankruptcy. We need a competitive<br>labor structure."<br><br>Saying that there was no concrete business plan that<br>involved a merger, he told Lane that the "term sheets"<br>the unions had agreed to with U.S. Airways did not<br>amount to a deal. "We think that's more smoke and<br>mirrors. It's a distraction. It's a red herring. It's<br>not really something before you."<br><br>American got a strong boost from the Unsecured<br>Creditors Committee, which represents the company's<br>nine largest creditors, when its attorney, Jack Butler,<br>said, "There's only one business plan before you." A<br>deal with U.S. Airways is "completely speculative," he<br>said.<br><br>The unions countered that it is also an issue of<br>timing, since American may wait until it has a more<br>favorable cost structure and then seek U.S. Airways as<br>a partner. Ed James, attorney for the Allied Pilots<br>Association, which represents American's pilots, said<br>terminating the contracts was permanent and could not<br>be undone. Sharon Levine, a lawyer for the Transport<br>Workers Union, said that the unions should not be used<br>"as bait" for a future merger.<br><br>American - which Gallagher said has lost $10 billion<br>over the past 10 years and in the first quarter of this<br>year lost $80 million a month - is seeking $1 billion a<br>year in labor savings from its unions.<br><br><br><br>May 25, 2012 APA president Bates lays out rationale for its labor deal with US Airways<br><br>Andrea Ahles<br><br>SkyTalk<br><br>Read more here: <a href="http://blogs.star-telegram.com/sky_talk/2012/05/apa-president-bates-lays-out-rationale-for-its-labor-deal-with-us-airways.html#storylink=cpy" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">http://blogs.star-telegram.com/sky_talk/2012/05/apa-president-bates-lays-out-rationale-for-its-labor-deal-with-us-airways.html#storylink=cpy</a><br><br>It appears that not all of American Airlines' pilots<br>are pleased with the union's agreement to support a US<br>Airways bid.<br><br>In a long message sent to pilots on Friday afternoon,<br>Allied Pilots Association president Dave Bates provided<br>details on how the union came to its "conditional labor<br>agreement" with US Airways, even though the Tempe-based<br>carrier has not yet officially launched a takeover bid<br>of American.<br><br>"In vivid contrast to the wood chipper that AMR<br>management had in mind for us, it became clear that<br>there was a better path for our future. Beginning with<br>the first discussions we had with US Airways, we<br>delineated key prerequisites that would be required to<br>gain APA's support for a merger with US Airways. These<br>priority items include, but are not limited to: a<br>viable business plan and a strong capital structure;<br>furlough and pay protection for all active pilots;<br>support for a pension freeze with an industry-standard<br>defined-contribution retirement plan; pay scales that<br>would quickly exceed the current rates at Delta and<br>United; and scope protections that would protect AA<br>pilot jobs. Few if any of these items could be obtained<br>from AMR management," Bates wrote.<br><br>Bates noted that there were some "naysayers" who are<br>urging members to contest the US Airways agreement and<br>that simply plays into American's hands.<br><br>"While our market-based CLA with US Airways management<br>is not the "industry-leading contract" we would all<br>prefer, we believe that the final contract we are now<br>negotiating with US Airways is supportable in<br>bankruptcy court, enhances our case and will be<br>significantly better than what AMR management has in<br>mind for us. In comparison to what other legacy airline<br>pilots experienced in bankruptcy, APA did much better<br>than any before us. Most of our CBA is preserved and we<br>have stopped the downward spiral that typifies<br>bankruptcy. The alternative to a consolidation with US<br>Airways is to have our contract gutted and to continue<br>to suffer under the failed leadership at AMR under a<br>business model that few believe can succeed," the<br>letter said.<br><br>Keep reading for the full text of Bates letters to the pilots.<br><br><br>The Path to the US Airways Conditional Labor Agreement<br><br>The APA leadership has received a number of member<br>queries in recent days regarding the conditional labor<br>agreement (CLA) we reached with US Airways.<br><br>To understand the path to our agreement with US Airways<br>management, we must acknowledge the reality of our<br>current situation. It's sometimes necessary to point<br>out the obvious-- negotiations in bankruptcy are not the<br>same as bargaining with a profitable company. Without<br>the ability to compel AMR management to bargain in good<br>faith--actually, to even bargain at all-- in Chapter 11,<br>we are facing massive displacements, more furloughs and<br>drastic changes to our benefits and quality of life. In<br>short, AMR's failed cornerstone strategy (sometimes<br>referred to as the "Tombstone Plan") has put American<br>financially at the very bottom of the industry--not the<br>best conditions for us to negotiate contractual gains.<br>Sadly, the legal process in bankruptcy heavily favors<br>American Airlines' management, with minimal safeguards<br>to preserve contractual provisions that define our<br>compensation, benefits and working conditions.<br><br><br>For the rest of the letter go to:<br><a href="http://blogs.star-telegram.com/sky_talk/2012/05/apa-president-bates-lays-out-rationale-for-its-labor-deal-with-us-airways.html#storylink=cpy" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">http://blogs.star-telegram.com/sky_talk/2012/05/apa-president-bates-lays-out-rationale-for-its-labor-deal-with-us-airways.html#storylink=cpy</a><br><br><br><br>Read more here: <a href="http://blogs.star-telegram.com/sky_talk/2012/05/apa-president-bates-lays-out-rationale-for-its-labor-deal-with-us-airways.html#storylink=cpy" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">http://blogs.star-telegram.com/sky_talk/2012/05/apa-president-bates-lays-out-rationale-for-its-labor-deal-with-us-airways.html#storylink=cpy</a><br><br><br>Read more here:<br><a href="http://blogs.star-telegram.com/sky_talk/2012/05/apa-" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">http://blogs.star-telegram.com/sky_talk/2012/05/apa-</a><br>president-bates-lays-out-rationale-for-its-labor-deal-<br>with-us-airways.html#storylink=cpy<br><br>____________________________________________<br><br>PortsideLabor aims to provide material of interest to<br>people on the left that will help them to interpret the<br>world and to change it.<br></pre><pre style="line-height: 17px; white-space: normal; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">]</pre></div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@</div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/155415/hostess_brands_uses_bankruptcy_court_to_screw_workers_out_of_pensions%2C_benefits?akid=8849.16102.5Yca5N&rd=1&t=15">http://www.alternet.org/story/155415/hostess_brands_uses_bankruptcy_court_to_screw_workers_out_of_pensions%2C_benefits?akid=8849.16102.5Yca5N&rd=1&t=15</a>
</div><div><br></div><div><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); width: 415px; "><tbody><tr><td valign="top"><a href="http://act.alternet.org/go/19035?t=14&akid=8849.16102.5Yca5N" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><img src="http://images.alternet.org/images/managed/storyimages_1337004765_screenshot20120514at10.12.00am.png_640x471_95x68" alt="" width="112" height="81" align="left" border="0" style="border: none; "></a></td><td><span style="color: white; ">-</span></td><td valign="top"><p class="ecxheadline3" style="line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1.35em; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; "><a href="http://act.alternet.org/go/19035?t=15&akid=8849.16102.5Yca5N" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">Hostess Brands Uses Bankruptcy Court to Screw Workers Out of Pensions, Benefits</a></p><p style="line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 1.35em; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); ">A judge allows the company to cancel its union contracts; on the same day, the Twinkie-maker sends lay-off notices to all 18,500 workers. <a class="ecxreadmore" href="http://act.alternet.org/go/19035?t=16&akid=8849.16102.5Yca5N" target="_blank" style="line-height: 11px; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; font-size: 9px; letter-spacing: 0.1em; "><strong>READ MORE</strong></a></p><p style="line-height: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.35em; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 11px; font-style: italic; color: rgb(77, 77, 77); ">By Bruce Vail / In These Times</p><p style="line-height: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.35em; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 11px; font-style: italic; color: rgb(77, 77, 77); "><br></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@</div><div><br></div><div><pre style="line-height: 17px; white-space: normal; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Egypt's Labor Movement Finds its own Strength<br>The impetus for Mubarak's fall, workers are now<br>crafting a new network to secure their rights.<br>By Mai Shams El-Din<br>Global Post<br>May 24, 2012<br><br><a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/egypt/120523/egypt-labor-movement-finds-own-strength" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/egypt/120523/egypt-labor-movement-finds-own-strength</a> <br><br>CAIRO — In many respects, the popular revolt against<br>Hosni Mubarak began on April 6, 2008 in Mahalla,<br>Egypt.<br><br>Security forces unleashed a torrent of violence<br>against 30,000 striking textile workers and thousands<br>of their supporters, killing several demonstrators and<br>injuring hundreds. The April 6 Youth Movement emerged<br>from that mass action when engineer Ahmed Maher co-<br>founded the group that would slowly galvanize millions<br>of workers and ultimately help touch off the<br>revolution.<br><br>Three years after Mahalla, worker Shaaban Hegaz stood<br>in front of the cameras during a rally on<br>International Labor Day — May 1 — holding a banner and<br>appealing to journalists: "Would you take a photo of<br>our demands? We have come all the way from Suez.”<br><br>Although Egypt’s labor movement has been born anew in<br>the days and months since the January 25 uprising,<br>wooing workers from the official government union to a<br>growing network of independent ones, activists like<br>Hegaz, 40, are finding an impatient audience these<br>days.<br><br>The country’s economy took a massive hit following the<br>fall of Mubarak and voters are hungry for relief. Last<br>year the ruling military implemented a law<br>criminalizing labor strikes that disturb production,<br>imposing penalties of years in prison or thousands of<br>Egyptian pounds in fines. <br><br>The nascent Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade<br>Unions — formed during the uprising as the country’s<br>first independent union — wants to repeal the law,<br>balancing workers‘ right to organize against economic<br>concerns. Ultimately, organizers hope to again bring<br>the power of labor to bear on the Egypt’s entrenched<br>political leadership. <br><br>"The ruling military practices are the legacy of their<br>teacher [Mubarak]," said Kamal Abbas, general<br>coordinator of the Center for Trade Unions and Workers<br>Services.<br><br>As Egyptians vote this week on their first-ever<br>civilian president, four leftist candidates who have<br>presented ideas to improve the socioeconomic<br>conditions of workers are polling well below<br>frontrunners like Amr Moussa and Abdel-Moneim<br>Abolfotoh.<br><br>Some labor leaders have called on the four pro-labor<br>candidates, Hamdeen Sabahi, Abul Ezz El-Hariri, Hisham<br>El-Bastawisi and Khaled Ali to form a united front<br>representing workers. <br><br>“These are all wishes," Abbas said. "This is a new-<br>born movement, with independent labor syndicates<br>formed only one year ago, so it is too hard for the<br>movement to shift its struggle from a direct economic<br>struggle to a political one. The movement lacks the<br>awareness." <br><br>The International Labor Organization (ILO) has put<br>Egypt on the blacklist of countries violating labor<br>rights since 1957, when the Egyptian government told<br>millions of Egyptian workers that the only legal union<br>would be the state-sponsored Egyptian Workers<br>Federation, which later became the Egyptian Trade<br>Union Federation (ETUF). <br><br>Then-President Gamal Abdel Nasser summarized the<br>regime’s longstanding approach to labor rights when he<br>said, “The workers don’t demand; We give.”<br><br>In 1976, the law governing the formation of labor<br>unions was amended, depriving Egyptian workers from<br>the right to form labor unions only upon state<br>approval, giving huge authority to ETUF.<br><br>ETUF became Mubarak's tool to keep workers in check<br>and also allegedly a gateway for financial corruption<br>— especially under Hussein Megawer, a leading figure<br>in Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party.<br><br>Megawer is now facing trial for his alleged<br>involvement in attacking Tahrir protesters on February<br>2, 2011 during the popular uprising that left 13 dead<br>and hundreds injured.<br><br>Unyielding continuity<br><br>Labor movement leaders and advocates say that when it<br>comes to suppressing labor organization, the ruling<br>military junta has picked up right where Mubarak left<br>off.<br><br>According to a report released by Sons of the Land<br>Human Rights Association, over 20,000 workers were<br>fired from their jobs since last year for protesting,<br>and 30 others committed suicide as they were unable to<br>provide basic support for their families. So far in<br>2012, the country has witnessed 1,398 labor strikes in<br>both government and private sectors, including those<br>by teachers, doctors, public transportation workers,<br>post offices workers and public taxation authority<br>workers.<br><br>Many of the strikers have joined the upstart Egyptian<br>Federation of Independent Trade Unions, which has<br>grown to more than 1.6 million workers and has aligned<br>with more than 100 other new unions.<br><br>The coordinator Abbas, who was imprisoned for many<br>times by Mubarak regime, was sentenced to a six-month<br>sentence by an Egyptian misdemeanor court in March for<br>chanting against the head of the official labor union<br>during a speech at the ILO in June 2011.<br><br>"This is the attack of counter-revolutionary forces<br>against activists, whether labor activists or<br>political activists, and a continuation of the<br>practices of the ousted regime," Abbas told Daily News<br>Egypt last March. <br><br>The average Egyptian worker, Abbas said, is not aware<br>of the fact that he or she represents the strongest<br>social class that can affect politics if it is<br>properly moderated and organized.<br><br>"The labor movement cannot yet understand that it is<br>the capitalist political regime that needs to be<br>changed so that its economic demands are met," Abbas<br>said.<br><br>Leftist lawyer and member of the Popular Alliance<br>Socialist Party Magda Fathy agreed, recalling the days<br>before the revolution when the leftist political elite<br>used to protest in front of the doorsteps of the<br>Journalists Syndicate against the oppressive labor<br>laws.<br><br>"Workers back then, and till now, are not aware that<br>this law is the reason of their suffering. I cannot<br>blame them alone, the political elite is also<br>responsible for not educating the working class,"<br>Fathy explained.<br><br>Fathy said that hopes are high that candidates with<br>agendas favoring the labor movement can unite to<br>achieve social justice.<br><br>"We are trying to organize our efforts," Fathy said.<br><br>Fear of an elitist constitution<br><br>The major demands of the labor movement in the new<br>constitution have two major dimensions: The first<br>calls for giving constitutional grants for syndicate<br>freedoms while the other stipulates granting social<br>and economic rights with no restrictions like the<br>right of free education in all stages, health care and<br>the right to work.<br><br>Workers’ advocates want Egyptian labor law to adhere<br>to ILO standards, which by grant labor unions the<br>right to organize without state approval and ban<br>disbanding unions under any circumstances, among many<br>other protections for labor unions.<br><br>The real battle lies in the laws that organize<br>constitutional rights, the Syndicate Freedoms Law is<br>the perfect example, Fathy said.<br><br>In May 2011, the Egyptian government initiated a<br>dialogue among the shareholders in the work<br>relationship including government officials,<br>businessmen, and workers to draft a law for syndicate<br>freedoms and labor.<br><br>The dialogue also included a wide range of<br>representatives from all political forces and reached<br>a draft law that most of the political forces had some<br>reservations upon, but according to Abbas, it met the<br>basic standards when it comes to labor rights.<br><br>But the surprise, Abbas said, came when the Muslim<br>Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP)<br>presented a totally different draft law in the<br>parliament that further restricts labor freedoms.<br><br>"The Brotherhood’s draft law stipulated that labor<br>organizations should be designed so the top of the<br>syndicate leadership controls the bylaws without<br>giving the lower ranking members of the syndicate<br>power to directly elect its leaders," Abbas said.<br><br>The law also prevents workers from forming more than<br>one syndicate in one industry.<br><br>Khaled Azhari, a member of parliament representing the<br>FJP, said the law’s intention is to avoid redundancy,<br>not to limit the right to organize.<br><br>"Syndicate and workers' unions should be established<br>freely and not built on party or religious bases,"<br>Azhari said in a statement. <br><br>The Muslim Brotherhood leadership has not typically<br>had a warm relationship with Egypt’s working class,<br>said Joel Beinin, the former director of Middle East<br>studies at the American University in Cairo to<br>Business Today.<br><br>“Their national leadership now, as pretty much always,<br>consists of wealthy, or at least upper middle class<br>people,” he said. “These are not people who are<br>personally inclined to be sympathetic to the needs of<br>workers.”<br><br>____________________________________________<br><br>PortsideLabor aims to provide material of interest to<br>people on the left that will help them to interpret the<br>world and to change it.<br></pre><pre style="line-height: 17px; white-space: normal; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><br></pre></div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@</div><div> </div><br><div style="line-height:17px;color:rgb(42, 42, 42);font-family:'Segoe UI', Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255)"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3" style="line-height:normal"><font size="2">Material appearing here is distributed without profit or monitory gain to those who have expressed an interest in receiving the material for research and educational purposes. This is in accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. section 107..<br style="line-height:17px"></font><a href="http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html" style="line-height:20px;color:rgb(0, 104, 207);cursor:pointer" target="_blank"><font color="#0066cc" size="2" style="line-height:normal">http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html</font></a></font></div><font face="Times New Roman" size="3" style="color:rgb(42, 42, 42);background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255)"></font><span style="line-height:17px;color:rgb(42, 42, 42);font-family:'Segoe UI', Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255)"> </span><br style="line-height:17px;color:rgb(42, 42, 42);font-family:'Segoe UI', Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255)"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3" style="color:rgb(42, 42, 42);background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255)">Listen to Native Voice One <a href="http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/nv1/ppr/index.shtml" style="line-height:20px;color:rgb(0, 104, 207);cursor:pointer" target="_blank">http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/nv1/ppr/index.shtml</a></font></div>
</div></body>
</html>