Workers in Delta Fertilizers and Chemicals Industries have launched a strike in the first days of December, protesting against the government decision to close their factory in Talkha, Dakahlia and transferring it to Suez. The workers say that this decision will threaten their own life, by cutting their incomes down, which will make them homeless. 

Continuous crisis 

In the sixties of the past century, the Egyptian government decided to found Delta Fertilizers and Chemicals Company and to move its factory from Suez city to the Delta of the Nile. The decision was made because of Triple Aggression on Egypt in 1956 to restore the foreign domination on the area of Suez Canal after the nationalization of Suez Canal Company. The company, owned by the public sector, was founded on 400 acres of one of the finest agricultural land. This was a clear mistake because it destructed the land. It was founded near the residential block, and this was another mistake. 

Through years, many crises caused on top of manufacturing of chemical fertilizers in this factory, in spite of the factory covered our domestic needs, and the surplus was being exported abroad to be one of the most important sources of hard currency. The residents near the company considered _from their point of view_ themselves in danger because of the chemical rubbish of the factory. Another side effect of the factory is that it destructed the clay soil, founded on it (about 400 acres). 

Technical reports 

According to experts, there is no collision between the manufacturing in the factory and the side effects as long as there is periodic maintenance. What happened is that the military system, which captured the authority after the 30 June coup, doesn’t have a lot of interests about improving the industry. Instead of that, they are building residential blocks, transforming the form of economy from industrial and agricultural into a service economy, plus plenty of military expenditure. 

In 2015, the workers in the factory discovered that the government had decided to pump the gas needed for running the factory. Pump it to a number of electrical transformers to improve the Electricity Production. It was a clear deception, but no one cared about that. Only about 3000 workers discovered that and objected to that, as they were interested in the profits of the company which they were sharing. What happened is that the production of the factory stopped, about 1500 workers lost their jobs without any governmental responsibility towards them and their families’ future. 

The current crisis which may be the last 

In November 2020, the workers in the company saw an engineering committee visiting their location. They knew from their own sources that the government decided to close the factory as it intended building a residential block on the land. The decision was definitely disappointing for them, particularly after the government confirmed on the lips of its officials.

The government alleged that the environmental harms stop behind their decision but , the factory was doing but the workers, who are organizing pickets nowadays, blame the government as it didn’t care about the periodic maintenance. During the current crisis, the police arrested more than ten of picket organizers. They were captured from their homes. The government instead of solving their fears and problems, captured them, and sent them to prison. To what extent the state will continue destructing the castles of industry and for whom?