Abrupt Alexandria factory shutdown leaves 1,400 garment workers stranded
Hundreds of garment and textile workers staged demonstrations outside the “Baby Coca/Hela” factory in Alexandria’s Abis district on Sunday and Monday, protesting the abrupt shutdown of the facility in late October, arbitrary mass terminations, and withheld wages, according to separate accounts provided to Al Manassa by three workers.
The sudden closure leaves an estimated 1,400 garment workers stranded without income, severance, or documentation, while human rights monitors report police abuses during efforts to disperse the demonstration.
One male worker, speaking on condition of anonymity, said employees arrived on Sunday to find the gates barred without prior notice, where factory security informed them that the facility had shuttered permanently. Although workers notified local police, officers who arrived at the scene failed to resolve the impasse, prompting workers to characterize the move as arbitrary dismissal, he explained.
A female worker, who also requested anonymity, explained that their employment contracts expired on Oct. 30 with no official indication from management regarding renewals.
While rumors circulated throughout October that contracts would lapse, supervisors instructed staff to dismiss the reports and continue their shifts until workers unexpectedly found the premises closed on Nov. 1, she noted to Al Manassa.
Management has vanished entirely, the worker added, noting that no company representatives appeared over the two-day standoff, October wages remain unpaid, and the facility stands locked with personal employment files trapped inside, effectively preventing staff from seeking alternative jobs.
During the demonstrations, Egyptian police enforced crowd dispersal and restricted workers from leaving the perimeter of the facility, while female police officers forcibly searched and assaulted female workers, according to the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF). Citing witness testimony that an elderly female worker collapsed and suffered convulsions, the commission demanded an official investigation to establish accountability.
The rights commission described the plant’s corporate ownership as shrouded in obscurity, demanding transparency and accountability. The group tied Baby Coca to Sherine Issa Eleish, a lawmaker representing the pro-government Mostaqbal Watan (Nation’s Future) Party and the assistant secretary for the party’s Central Women’s Secretariat, citing Ready Made Garments Export Council records that list Eleish as the company’s board chair.
Roughly 1,200 workers affiliated with Hela alongside nearly 200 Baby Coca employees were abruptly placed on indefinite leave, the commission reported.
The facility’s owners routinely lease operations to foreign corporations, most recently handing control to Sri Lanka’s Hela Apparel Holdings following an earlier arrangement with a Chinese firm, the female worker explained to Al Manassa.
In a statement issued in solidarity with the workers, the Center for Trade Union and Workers Services (CTUWS) noted the formal transfer of industrial assets to the Sri Lankan fashion group and the rebranding of the facility as “Hela Clothing Egypt.”
Beyond the unpaid October wages, workers face an unraveling social insurance crisis. A second male worker revealed that despite monthly payroll deductions, the firm never remitted those payments to the National Organization for Social Insurance. A worker delegation inquiring directly with the insurance authority discovered that contributions had lapsed for roughly a year, an omission corroborated independently by the female worker following a review of her insurance status.
The Conservative Party’s Workers’ Secretariat placed the insurance arrears at 16 months, asserting in a statement that the crisis constitutes an economic and social crime rather than a routine commercial setback. The secretariat insisted that plant liquidations and corporate shutdowns must never serve as an escape hatch for foreign investors to evade their legal obligations.
Demands for institutional intervention continue to mount. CTUWS urged company executives and the Ministry of Labor to clear outstanding arrears and initiate negotiations with labor representatives, while the Popular Socialist Alliance Party called for the immediate disbursement of October wages, retroactive settlement of insurance contributions, and full payment of statutory compensation.