Court opposes release of arrested workers as labor action concludes at clothing supplier for Levis, UNIQLO, Tommy Hilfiger
The Administrative Prosecution opposed on Tuesday court release orders for nine workers who were arrested after participating in a strike at the Cairo factories of a clothing manufacturer supplying global brands including Levis, Tommy Hilfiger and UNIQLO, according to a lawyer who spoke to Mada Masr.
After a court north of Cairo ruled that the workers should be released on bail in the morning, the prosecution later blocked the release with an appeal to prolong their detention pending further investigation.
The workers will stay in detention facilities until Wednesday morning, when the court will review the prosecution's appeal, according to Mahmoud Magdy, a lawyer at the Center for Trade Union and Workers' Services.
The T&C Garments strike also ended on Tuesday, three of the workers who had participated said to Mada Masr on condition of anonymity.
The workers did not comment on whether management responded to the strike demands nor did the company's managers provide a public statement regarding their response to the strike.
Around 6,000 employees at T&C Garments' Obour City complex to Cairo's east began strike action on January 16, organizing sit-ins at the companies' facilities to demand that management increase their bonuses, commissions and meal allowances, as workers currently take home less than minimum wage per month despite a sharp increase in the cost of living.
Following several days during which workers attended daily shifts at the company to gather and hold protest action, the company halted the daily transport it normally provides for staff to reach the industrial zone where its facility is located.
Security forces later arrested the nine workers from their homes on Saturday, after the company's lawyer filed a complaint against them due to their participation in the strike and demanded an increase in the annual bonus.
The workers were detained under Case 264/2025 of the First Circuit Obour Administrative Prosecution for investigation on charges of 'inciting unrest and sedition, striking, encouraging other workers to strike and harming the company's interests,' according to Magdy.
Magdy told Mada Masr that the Obour prosecution initially issued orders for the workers to be held in detention for several more days pending further investigation, until they were ordered released on LE2,000 bail each on Tuesday at the Khanka Misdemeanor Court.
The releases were later blocked by the administrative prosecution's appeal against the court decision.
Two other workers named in the summons order for the same case are yet to be questioned in relation to the charges, the lawyer said.
The thousands of T&C factory workers launched their strike on January 16, demanding a 50 percent increase in their annual bonus to cope with rising living costs, a raise in meal allowances from LE600 to LE1,200, an enforcement of the minimum wage and permission for discretionary leave and paid public holidays.
While management made no public announcement regarding the strike's conclusion, one worker told Mada Masr that a supervisor informed them to expect an increase in their bonus.
The company's executive director had offered the laborers a 17 percent increase to bonuses on Sunday, which was rejected by workers at the time who held firm to their demand for a 50 percent increase.
Workers at the company currently take home between LE4,000 and LE5,000 per month, substantially below the minimum wage for the private sector, which is set at LE6,000.
The worker speaking on Tuesday said that the raise they expect is not the company's offer of 17 percent. 'I'll find out the rate from my manager,' they said.
They were also demanding that the company improve its on-site health clinic, which is poorly equipped and offers little more than painkillers, they say.
Workers who fall ill or are injured on the job must seek treatment outside the company at their own expense, and if they have to take leave for health reasons, they are only paid a quarter of their daily wage, workers told Mada Masr last week.
The strike further called for the dismissal of HR manager Mohamed Abdel Rahman for insulting workers.
T&C Garments, a partnership between Egypt's Tolba Group and Turkey's Tay Group, manufactures ready-made clothing for well-known brands, including Levis, UNIQLO and Tommy Hilfiger.
The factory operates under the Qualified Industrial Zones (QIZ) agreement between Egypt, Israel and the United States, which stipulates that Egyptian products must include a 10.5 percent Israeli component to enter the US import market.
T&C currently exports 70 percent of its production to the US and the rest to Europe.
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The ongoing siege imposed by Israel's occupation has stretched dwindling resources in the coastal enclave to their limit, caused widespread sickness, that has led to a rash of deaths from malnutrition, and prompted a rapid breakdown in social order. At the same time, Israel has sought to install a securitized aid-distribution scheme in isolation from independent humanitarian organizations. Alongside the American and Swiss-registered Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the Israeli military has established distribution centers policed by its own military, while restricting humanitarian organizations' access to deliver and distribute supplies to families in need, which WFP has called 'the most effective way to prevent widespread starvation.' Those that have made their way to those centers, the first of which opened earlier this week, have faced humiliating conditions and, for some, arrest. When chaos broke out at the center in Rafah earlier this week, Israeli forces opened fire to try to restore order, several of the thousands of people who had gathered at the distribution point were killed and wounded. Israel's induced starvation has prompted a spike in incidents of armed theft across Gaza in recent weeks. An eyewitness to the raid on the WFP's Ghafari warehouse on Wednesday evening told Mada Masr that they were aware before the incident that large quantities of flour were being held in the warehouse. Israel allowed the delivery of sacks of flour to the WFP for the first time in over 80 days last week. However, they prohibited the UN agency from resorting to the previous distribution method, which had seen flour given directly to families. Due to Israel's prohibition, the UN had to resort to distributing the flour to bakeries, which would then make bread and sell it to citizens. 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Susan Bashir, another resident, said that her household includes 20 people, yet they are only permitted one bundle containing 18 small loaves. She asked how these few loaves are supposed to feed such a large family, adding that if flour were distributed directly, families could bake according to their actual needs. Eyewitness Oday Hemeida called the mechanism ineffective and unjust to hundreds of thousands of residents. There is also no system to manage crowds at bakeries, he said, leading to mass congestion and countless thefts. Many bakeries have refused to participate in the new system, Abdel Nasser al-Ajrami, the head of the Gaza Bakery Owners Association, told Mada Masr, arguing that it fails to meet residents' needs and puts bakeries at risk amid the rise of groups stealing bread. He also described thefts, and said that some of the stolen bread was reappearing in markets at extortionate prices. The stocks positioned at the Ghafari warehouse that was raided on Wednesday were pre-positioned there for distribution, the WFP said on Wednesday night. One of the eyewitnesses who spoke to Mada Masr about the raid said they joined the crowd at the Ghafari warehouse hoping they could get a sack of flour for themselves and their family, who they said had not eaten bread for weeks. Armed individuals outside the warehouse initially attempted to defend it, opening fire on some of those who attempted to approach, the eyewitness said. They noted that several people were injured in the fracas over the course of several hours. A second eyewitness also saw armed security personnel outside, who ultimately withdrew as hundreds of people forced their way into the building. Once the crowd was inside, they emptied the warehouse of all its contents, the first eyewitness said, while the second confirmed that the warehouse had been stocked with large amounts of flour. The raid on the warehouse and the failed attempt to have bakeries manage bread distribution may be enough for the WFP to be able to secure the ability to revert to its previous distribution method. Two civil society representatives in the Gaza Strip told Mada Masr on Wednesday that the WFP is expected to begin distributing flour to families instead of bakeries over the coming days. Bakers Owners Association in Gaza head Abdel Nasser al-Ajrami told Mada Masr that after meetings to determine a better mechanism, the WFP informed the association that Israel has finally approved the delivery of flour to the Gaza Strip week for direct distribution to residents, including its northern governorates, starting early next week. Nahed Shehaibar, the head of the Private Transport Association in Gaza, confirmed the information. Ajrami noted that contacts have been made with the Israeli side to request the reopening of the Zikim crossing, on Israel's border with the northern Gaza Strip, to allow flour and food aid to enter the northern governorates. However, he added that Israel is yet to respond to the request. Ultimately, any change in the distribution method will be in Israel's hands, as it controls all the entrance and exit points of Gaza. Approximately 1,000 tons of flour remain at the Karm Abu Salem crossing, awaiting Israeli approval to allow it into the strip in the coming days, Ajrami said. An Egyptian official also told Mada Masr in recent days that authorities have trucks full of material stationed in North Sinai waiting to enter the strip. 'We want to operate the Rafah border,' the official said, 'but Israel doesn't want to get out.'
