Egypt’s First Independent Union Formed  · Global Voices
Eman AbdElRahman

Egyptian activist and blogger, Hossam El Hamalawy, blogged about his initial impressions of victory after he spent a day with tax collectors, who descended on Nasr City, to lobby the Labor Ministry into recognizing their free union. He then uploaded the pictures he took for the demonstration, and also quoted Sara Carr's report – in Daily News Egypt. This is the first time real estate tax collectors have formed their first independent trade union since 1957.
Tax Collectors celebrate the formation of their union. Picture by Hossam El Hamlawy
Later on, El Hamalawy added that the union has won international legitimacy – in addition to the local one – when the Arab, African, International representatives of the Public Services International accepted the membership of Egypt’s Union of Real Estate Tax Authority Employees.