By Wael Gamal
MAHALLA EL-KUBRA, Egypt (Reuters) - Seven thousand workers controlled one of Egypt's biggest textile mills on Monday, the second day of a strike by 27,000 employees of Misr Spinning and Weaving in the Nile Delta town of Mahalla el-Kubra.
Five of the organisers went to the public prosecutor's office on Monday to answer accusations that they incited the strike and caused the state-owned company 10 million pounds in losses on the first day of the stoppage.
The workers are demanding higher wages, more benefits, a larger share of the company's profits and the release of their five colleagues, one of the organisers said.
Several workers said they took home about 150 Egyptian pounds a month, while the company posted a profit of 217 million pounds in the 2006/7 financial year.
"It is in the hands of (President Hosni) Mubarak himself now. We want to eat and send our children to school. What can we do with 150 pounds a month?" said one of the workers, who asked not to be named.
At the factory site on Monday groups of workers beat drums and chanted slogans against Misr Spinning and the management of the government holding company which owns it.
Police kept their distance and no managers were present. Workers said representatives of the government-approved union came to visit on Sunday but the workers drove them away.
The strike is one of the biggest in a long series over the past year in Egypt, where economic growth has not yet improved the conditions of many low-paid workers.
In many cases managers have met most of the demands of the workers within days or at the most a few weeks.
But the authorities have shown some signs of alarm at the strikes, usually led by groups of workers independent of the trade unions backed by and loyal to the government.
In April the government closed down the headquarters of a group which gives advice to workers and unofficial unions.
The Egyptian economy has been growing at about 7 percent a year for the past 18 months but inflation, at more than 8 percent for the past year, has eroded much of the value of any wage increases they have received.
Price increases have been larger for foodstuffs, on which the poor spend a higher percentage of their income.
Workers at Misr Spinning and Weaving went on strike in December last year and won a promise that workers would receive annual bonuses equivalent to 45 days' wages.
They say the company has not fulfilled its promise and they are now demanding the equivalent of 12 months' basic pay as their share of the 2006/7 profits, representatives said.
