Workers Adding to Egyptian Chaos as Strike Wave Disrupts Economy

For 16 days earlier this month, not a single shipping container moved into or out of Egypt’s principal port for Asian trade.

Laborers at Ain Sukhna, on the Suez Canal east of Cairo, were busy protesting management’s plans to continue using short-term employment contracts. The roughly 1,200 striking dock workers, who slept each night in empty containers while campaigning for permanent jobs with port operator DP World Ltd., hung a white banner reading “Our one demand is to be hired,” alongside a large Egyptian flag.