Two days before Eid Al-Fitr, workers at Samanoud Textiles in Gharbiya ended a strike after receiving their February wages in full.
The stoppage followed days of protests over delayed pay, management’s practice of splitting salaries into installments, suspended health insurance, and plans to extend the workday from seven to eight hours excluding breaks from the long-standing seven-hour system.
Workers had earlier told Al Manassa that management had for about four months been paying wages in three installments, eating away at workers’ incomes and leaving them unable to meet their families’ obligations. Until protests began last week, they had received only half of their February wages, worsening pressure during Ramadan and just before Eid Al-Fitr.
Last week, women workers in the clothing division staged sit-ins and a partial strike, stopping work in the division for periods ranging from one to three hours over three consecutive days. One worker said the protests escalated after textile division workers announced an open-ended strike on Monday, after management ignored their demand to pay the remainder of their February wages.
Workers from the clothing and inspection divisions joined them on Tuesday, she said, while Central Security Forces vehicles were stationed outside the company gates and National Security officers were present inside the divisions.
The worker, who asked not to be named, said, “Until today, I still haven’t been able to buy Eid clothes for my son, or make kahk like everyone else. It’s like we’re begging them, not asking for our rights.”
A second worker, who also asked not to be named, said management was forced by the workers’ escalation to pay 1,300 Egyptian pounds from February wages on Tuesday, then paid the remainder in full on Wednesday, after which workers decided to end the strike.
The second worker added that officials from the labor office met company management on Tuesday and told workers that management had pledged to solve the problem of suspended health insurance services after Eid Al-Fitr.
More than 600 workers, most of them women, have been denied medical services for three months, including many with chronic illnesses such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and asthma. Their monthly medications have been stopped because of debts accumulated by the company to the General Authority for Social Insurance, despite insurance contributions continuing to be deducted from workers’ wages, workers had previously told Al Manassa.
The latest protest follows earlier labor disputes at the company. In April 2025, management applied the minimum wage only to administrative staff and section supervisors, angering workers before it later extended the measure to all employees, though allowances and overtime were counted as part of the minimum wage, according to workers who spoke to Al Manassa at the time.
On Aug. 18 last year, Samanoud Textile workers went on strike for 35 days to demand implementation of the minimum wage, before ending the action under threats of dismissal and imprisonment.
On Aug. 25, 10 workers, including labor leader Hesham El-Banna, were arrested and accused by prosecutors of “inciting a strike, unlawful assembly, and attempting to overthrow the regime.” On Aug. 28, prosecutors ordered their detention for 15 days.
In early September, the Mahalla appellate court ordered the release of seven of them while El-Banna remained in detention. The Tanta Public Prosecution later released him on Sept. 9, two days before a scheduled detention renewal hearing. He was later arbitrarily dismissed by the company’s management.
Samanoud Textile and Woolens was established in 1974 in Gharbiya governorate. Originally owned by Misr Spinning and Weaving in Mahalla, its shares were distributed among several bodies, including Misr Insurance, the Social Insurance Authority, and the Egyptian Endowments Authority. The largest stake is now owned by Arab Investment Bank.
In 2015 shareholders succeeded in registering the company under the Investment Law, transforming it from a public business sector company into a private sector company.
