{"id":17383,"date":"2025-08-14T17:38:27","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T15:38:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/?p=17383"},"modified":"2026-10-07T23:58:01","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T21:58:01","slug":"hisham-el-banna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/hisham-el-banna\/","title":{"rendered":"Hisham El-Banna\u2019s Dismissal Raises Fears for Samanoud Textiles"},"content":{"rendered":"

On 30 July 2025, the East Tanta Court of First Instance ordered the dismissal of labour organiser Hisham El-Banna from Samanoud Textiles, following a lawsuit brought by management accusing him of inciting a strike and causing losses when production stopped.<\/p>\n

The dispute dates back to August 2024, when workers at the Gharbia governorate factory went on strike for more than a month, demanding implementation of the minimum wage and improvements in their financial conditions. Security forces arrested several workers, including El-Banna, who were subsequently released.<\/p>\n

In September 2024, the company suspended ten workers<\/a> implicated in administrative case 7648 of 2024, Samanoud, and put them on half their basic salary pending the proceedings. The suspensions followed the minimum-wage strike and included El-Banna.<\/p>\n

Further protests and strikes followed in March, April and May 2025 over what workers described as mismanagement, delayed wages and unpaid periodic allowances. These disputes kept the crisis alive in the courts and on the factory floor.<\/p>\n

Founded in 1974, Samanoud Textiles became known for fabrics, terry cloth and denim. Its ownership came to include the National Investment Bank and other public bodies. After years of decline and a shutdown lasting roughly three years, it partially resumed operations in 2014 under a restructuring programme that included early retirement for about half its workforce. State financial support did not end complaints about low pay and deteriorating working conditions.<\/p>\n

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A dismissal after the criminal complaint was closed<\/h2>\n

El-Banna told Zawia3 he was surprised by the dismissal ruling, saying the criminal accusations of inciting a strike and causing losses had already been rejected. He described the outcome as an acquittal for himself and nine colleagues, while the subsequent labour proceedings continued against him alone.<\/p>\n

The procedural accounts differ: the Center for Trade Union and Workers Services (CTUWS) and its lawyer Rahma Refaat describe the prosecution as having closed a complaint against nine workers, including El-Banna. Closure by the prosecution is distinct from an acquittal by a criminal court.<\/p>\n

El-Banna said the labour court relied on National Security and police inquiries that, in his account, had not been accepted in the criminal proceedings. He maintained that the company supplied no other evidence for its allegations, including its claim that the strike cost it EGP 500,000 a day.<\/p>\n

He challenged that estimate by citing figures he said he had submitted to prosecutors: monthly company revenue of EGP 800,000\u2013900,000, rising at best to EGP 1.1 million. As sales manager, he said, he sometimes sold scrap and surplus inventory to help cover wages. He described the loss estimates as unrealistic and unsupported. These are disputed figures presented by El-Banna; revenue and losses are different accounting measures.<\/p>\n

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A decade of attempts to remove him<\/h2>\n

El-Banna sees the July 2025 ruling as the culmination of efforts to remove him dating back to 2014, rather than simply a consequence of the August 2024 strike.<\/p>\n

He traced those efforts to the National Investment Bank\u2019s takeover of the company under the government of former prime minister Ibrahim Mahlab. According to his account, approximately EGP 72 million was injected into the restructuring, including around EGP 35 million for an early-retirement programme that removed some 600 workers\u2014about half the workforce. He said full liquidation had been planned for February 2015.<\/p>\n

El-Banna said he was among the most prominent opponents of liquidation and helped halt the plan before a presidential decision to restart the factory. He believes the bank subsequently viewed him as an obstacle. A dismissal decision followed in 2016, but he won reinstatement in court.<\/p>\n

He also said management removed his higher educational qualification from his personnel file in January 2015. He challenged that action and obtained a judgment requiring the company to calculate his pay on the basis of that qualification, retroactively from 2010, and award him EGP 10,000 in compensation.<\/p>\n

Over the years, he said, he has been involved in between seven and nine cases challenging dismissals and disciplinary measures he considered arbitrary, winning several. He planned to appeal the July 2025 decision once he obtained the written judgment and its reasons.<\/p>\n

After the ruling, according to El-Banna, management stopped the half basic salary he had received during his suspension and cancelled the monthly medical authorisation he used to obtain treatment for diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSince 2014, I have practically been living in court corridors.\u201d \u2014 Hisham El-Banna<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Deterring collective action<\/h2>\n

Labour researcher Hassan El-Barbary called the dismissal a dangerous precedent for the constitutional rights to work and strike. In his view, it also conflicts with international protections against retaliation for trade-union activity.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Zawia3, he argued that the prosecution\u2019s earlier closure of the complaint undermined the grounds for dismissal. He regarded the decision as retaliatory and intended to weaken workers\u2019 resolve and discourage collective demands.<\/p>\n

El-Barbary cited International Labour Organization Conventions 87 on freedom of association, 98 on organising and collective bargaining, and 135 on workers\u2019 representatives. Egypt has ratified all three<\/a>. He also invoked the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the principles of the Arab Charter on Human Rights.<\/p>\n

His constitutional argument draws on Article 15, which recognises peaceful strikes as a right regulated by law; Article 13, which requires protection against arbitrary dismissal and safeguards for working conditions; Article 76, on trade-union freedom and independence; and Article 93, on ratified international human-rights agreements. These are his grounds for challenging the ruling, whose full reasoning El-Banna was still seeking.<\/p>\n

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Fears for the factory\u2019s future<\/h2>\n

No official liquidation decision had been announced. Nevertheless, the prolonged dispute has fuelled concern among workers and labour activists that the company\u2019s future is at risk.<\/p>\n

El-Barbary said recurring disputes, lengthy strikes, security interventions and arrests weaken the working environment and deepen the crisis. More significant, he argued, is what he described as a policy of neglect, resembling patterns seen at other public enterprises before their closure.<\/p>\n

In that pattern, unresolved problems accumulate, production deteriorates and operating losses grow until continued activity appears financially unviable. Losses can then become the stated justification for a sale or liquidation\u2014even if no such intention was originally announced. Any such step, however, would require formal decisions by the competent authorities.<\/p>\n

Wafaa Ashry, a central committee member of the Bread and Freedom Party, which is under formation, believes the dismissal of a prominent opponent of closure could help remove internal resistance to a liquidation plan.<\/p>\n

She told Zawia3 that weakening dissent within state-owned companies can precede their sale or liquidation. In her assessment, the factory\u2019s extensive land and strategic location in Samanoud could attract investors interested in property or commercial development. She also linked the dispute to a broader retreat by the state from traditional industries such as textiles, sometimes through what she termed disguised privatisation.<\/p>\n

Ashry described Samanoud Textiles as a symbol of resistance to privatisation since the 1990s. Removing its labour leaders, she argued, sends other workers a warning about the price of opposition. She said companies may be neglected, burdened with debt or poorly managed until they appear beyond rescue, allowing liquidation to be presented as the logical solution. These are concerns and interpretations raised by the interviewees, rather than evidence of an announced liquidation plan for Samanoud.<\/p>\n

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What happens to workers\u2019 trust in the law?<\/h2>\n

In a statement<\/a>, CTUWS criticised the dismissal ruling and said it ran contrary to the expectations of legal specialists who had examined the case. It pledged to pursue an appeal with supporting lawyers.<\/p>\n

The organisation said Samanoud prosecutors had closed the company\u2019s complaint against nine workers, including El-Banna, concerning the strike and alleged damage to the business. It considered that outcome evidence of the weakness of the accusations.<\/p>\n

CTUWS also said management withdrew its requests to suspend the other workers during the litigation while maintaining its request against El-Banna. It interpreted this as individual targeting of a union organiser trusted by colleagues to represent them in negotiations.<\/p>\n

Rahma Refaat, a lawyer and CTUWS programme coordinator, described the ruling as disappointing. She told Zawia3 that El-Banna had played a central role in defending workers at a company burdened by years of problems, including repeated changes in ownership and legal structure. Some employees had left through retirement settlements; those remaining continued to face measures she considered arbitrary.<\/p>\n

Refaat said the 2024 demand for the minimum wage was legitimate. Management had declined to implement it while awaiting a response to its exemption request. Workers complained to the labour office, after which management submitted complaints to prosecutors against nine of them. The investigation was subsequently closed, she said.<\/p>\n

For Refaat, the decision to drop suspension requests against everyone except El-Banna demonstrated both the weakness of the accusations and the intention to target him for his union role.<\/p>\n

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Refaat warned that the ruling went beyond one worker\u2019s livelihood: it risked convincing other workers that legal channels were closed to those demanding that the law be applied.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

She said El-Banna\u2019s family was losing its sole source of income while no manager was being held accountable for the violations she alleged. She hoped the appeal would restore some hope to him and his colleagues.<\/p>\n

The dispute unfolds against a wider argument over the liquidation of public enterprises, particularly in textiles and heavy industry. Officials present closures as a response to continuing losses and declining competitiveness. Unionists and researchers counter that years of neglect, obsolete equipment and underinvestment can produce the very losses later invoked to justify closure.<\/p>\n

Public Business Sector Law 203 of 1991 provides a framework for liquidation decisions by company general assemblies. Earlier closures, including National Cement, have raised questions about public assets, employment and the future of industrial capacity. At Samanoud, those questions remain open as El-Banna prepares to challenge his dismissal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A court ruling dismissing labour organiser Hisham El-Banna has reignited fears over workers\u2019 rights and the future of Samanoud Textiles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":13653,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[390],"tags":[],"kateb":[728],"class_list":["post-17383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-human-rights","kateb-shimaa-hamdy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/\u0639\u0645\u0627\u0644.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17383"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17383\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17384,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17383\/revisions\/17384"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17383"},{"taxonomy":"kateb","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kateb?post=17383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}