The decision of the Egyptian Iron and Steel Company’s board of directors to close the company’s doors yesterday, Monday, and stop workers from attending factories located in the Helwan area, south of Cairo, in preparation for the company’s liquidation, sparked a state of sadness mixed with anger on social networking sites in Egypt.
For the first time since its operation 67 years ago, the flame of the “blast furnace” of the largest iron factories in Egypt was extinguished. Security personnel entered the factory and cut off the gas from the last operating furnaces in it.
Labor and union sources told “Masrawy” website that the company informed the workers not to come to the factory until an agreement was reached regarding workers’ compensation, which is revolving around a wide dispute. One thousand pounds for a worker.
Wasting the wealth of Egypt
Between sad about the company’s closure and angry at the decision-making, the pioneers of social networking sites interacted with the news of the company’s closure, and a large number of them expressed their sadness at the end of one of the largest castles of heavy industries in Egypt and the Arab world.
On the other hand, anger dominated the statements of many observers due to what some described as the “blind intention” of the government to liquidate the old company like the rest of the major national companies in favor of major investors.
Followers linked the abandonment of the company and the Egyptian regime’s abandonment of the islands of Tiran and Sanafir and Egypt’s rights to the Mediterranean gas, and finally its failure so far to stop Ethiopia’s construction of the Renaissance Dam, and the loss of Egypt’s rights in the Nile River. Some of them also linked the company’s age (67 years) to the history of The setback of June 1967, in which Egypt suffered a painful loss to Israel.
Filter Company # Alhdid_oasalb Egypt ‘s oldest public sector companies and the displacement of 7,000 Egyptian workers at the same time Sisi has held the French Rafale aircraft deal which Athtajha Egypt and the Sisi provide 7000 jobs for French workers who are unemployed # Sd_alnhih
pic.twitter.com/j0dqaqzaWf— Khaled New York (@KhaledEibid) June 1, 2021
The symbolism of number 67 makes us think naturally of the setback,
and this is considered a new setback by the builder of the modern state #iron_steel, it was possible to reform its administrative structure and save it from this black end,
but it may be intended.
God knows https://t.co/ZWV4W8oBhA– Ahmed Atalla (@avoucato) May 31, 2021
Reject Parliament’s decisions
Mustafa Bakri, a parliamentarian and media person close to power, poured in a number of tweets his anger on the Minister of Business Sector Hisham Tawfiq, who rejected the decisions of the House of Representatives on the liquidation, and refused even to attend the Council, and rejected all offers of reform and development as if he alone is the decision-maker in deciding the fate of one of the The largest iron and steel company in the Middle East, he said.
Bakri sent several messages to the “liquidation minister,” as he described, including “that history will not show mercy to you because you took joy from the eyes of our grandchildren and our children who were brought up in love with this company.” And she says to you, you demolished our thick wall.
We will not say goodbye to Helwan Iron and Steel Company, after it extinguished its last candle this morning with Firman Sultani from the Minister of Business Sector, who declared more than once that he hates the public sector and holds the immortal leader Abdel Nasser responsible for what he calls the ruin of the country.
We will not say goodbye after the minister refused to listen to me– Mostafa Bakry (@BakryMP) May 31, 2021
Resolutions of the House of Representatives, which rejected liquidation, demanded the formation of a fact-finding committee, and even refused to attend the House, as if it alone is the one who can decide the fate of one of the largest iron and steel companies in the Middle East.
Yes, Helwan Iron and Steel will remain in our hearts and minds, raising its torches.– Mostafa Bakry (@BakryMP) May 31, 2021
With Facebook
Trust Aaamaala minister and every minister that our tears that bleed heartbreak Sttardek to the Day of Judgment, and it tells you you demolished our wall thick
trust that history will not bless you because you kidnapped the joy of the eyes of our grandchildren and our children who were raised to love the company and belonging to it
in one day said to me d Aziz Sidqi– Mostafa Bakry (@BakryMP) May 31, 2021
Dispute over compensation
For his part, Kamal Abbas, a member of the trade union committee and a former worker in the company, explained in press statements that workers rejected the decision of the Ministry of Manpower with Khaled El-Feki (head of the General Union of Workers in Metallurgical and Engineering Industries) that the minimum compensation should be 250 thousand pounds and the maximum amount 450 thousand.
In turn, the workers announced in a demonstration hours before the announcement of the decision to stop production, adherence to the demands of the Trade Union Committee regarding compensation and financial dues, on top of which are the payment of compensation ranging between 400 thousand and 700 thousand pounds.
Destruction of ovens
Iron and Steel works with the technology of high-grade furnaces, which requires special procedures to stop the work of any furnace.
And a member of the company’s board of directors had said in a press statement earlier that no board member could take responsibility for the decision to stop the furnaces in the company, which operates with technology that allows stopping only for maintenance purposes, because stopping the furnaces in non-maintenance cases means their demolition, which is what It means wasting public money of half a billion pounds per oven.
A rich history
The Iron and Steel Company is the first and largest company in the Middle East, and production began in 1961 according to a plan targeting the production of iron and steel with a capacity of 1.2 million tons annually, to be the first integrated complex for steel production in the Arab world with a capital of 21 million pounds, and the company is located on an area of 1700 acre.
Last January, the extraordinary general assembly of the Egyptian Iron and Steel Company, headed by the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Holding Company for Metal Industries, Mohamed El-Saadawi, decided to liquidate the Iron and Steel Company after 67 years of the establishment of the Iron and Steel Castle in Egypt and the Middle East.
The liquidation decision came after many attempts to reform and stop the bleeding of losses, according to the association’s statement, as losses on 30/6/2020 amounted to about 8.5 billion pounds.