strike in egypt

                                           STRIKE IN EGYPT                       

Workers in Egypt's largest factory relaunched their strike for higher wages and better conditions, defying the warning by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces that more strikes would be "disastrous."

Faisal Naousha, a strike organiser, said workers in the Misr Spinning and Weaving textile factory - which employs 24,000 people in the city of Al Mahalla Al Kubra - also want two top managers to resign.

The workers suspended a strike three days ago, but Naousha said at the time they would continue to press for higher wages.

Last year a court ruling raised the minimum wage from $68 to $205, but the workers have not received their dues, he said.

The political protests that toppled the 30-year-old regime of Mubarak have given way to a nationwide explosion of pay strikes.

Workers in banking, transport, oil, tourism, textiles, state-owned media and government bodies were striking to demand higher wages and better conditions.

Many trade unions are headed by people affiliated to Mubarak's former regime, leaving workers with few formal channels to air their grievances.

Strikes and protests spread across Cairo, the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, the province of Qaliubiya, the canal cities of Suez and Ismailiya and the southern city of Aswan.

Meanwhile, senior leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood said Wednesday that the influential Islamist movement would not seek a majority in parliament when elections are held later this year.

The opposition group, which says it wants to build an Islamic state through peaceful means, was seen as the government's most powerful foe until a popular revolt forced president Hosni Mubarak to resign on February 11.

"We do not aspire for a majority in the upcoming parliament, and this is a message to all political parties," said Essam al Erian, a member of the group's politburo. "This is not the time for competition."

The Brotherhood won a fifth of seats in the 2005 election but boycotted run-offs in the poll in November last year after failing to win a single seat in the first round. Rights groups widely denounced the election as fraudulent.

Some in the West feared that the revolt that brought down Mubarak, despite being spearheaded by secular youths, would empower the Islamists, who oppose Israel and are critical of US policies in the region.