Young Egyptians, AUC students to be exact, have exonerated themselves slightly this week. In scenes reminiscent of hippie-era sit-ins young AUC students attached themselves to a labor strike amongst the AUC janitorial staff. Before I go on a background of the conflict is necessary. AUC employs a large janitorial staff. These workers have the typical janitorial duties such as cleaning bathrooms and emptying trash cans, but also spend much of their time picking up the trash that AUC students can't be bothered to take to one of the many conveniently placed trash cans on campus. They also clean the infinite number of fountains on campus and rearrange chairs in the library. This large number of men and women is vital for the university to function (I emphasize large because I believe that if more students had a sense of personal responsibility and cleaned up after themselves, such a large number wouldn't be needed.) Last Wednesday these employees went on strike for better working conditions and wages. Currently the non-enforced minimum wage in Egypt is 1200 LE a month or about $210. These workers were getting paid about 600 LE ($105) a month and had, in some cases 150 LE taken out of this pittance for health insurance. Needless to say the strike was warranted. These employees deserved a living wage (I'm unsure what the living wage is in Egypt. I know that I spend more on rent than these individuals make in a month to support families. I can't imagine 1200 LE is even close.) The strike lasted for five days (three class days and two weekend days) and while they were on strike the campus looked awful. The classrooms and the library were full of trash. Trash cans overflowed. The campus no longer felt like the millions of dollars that took to build it.
Here's where the AUC students come in. The strike started last Wednesday when the workers showed up in plain clothes and simply sat in front of the administration building with a list of demands they had compiled. A small number students joined them Wednesday afternoon shouting things in Arabic that caused the crowd of workers to cheer. The administration didn't know what to do. The numbers swelled late afternoon with many workers and even some students spending the night on campus to further get their point across. Students came out in full force on Thursday. They sent out petitions via facebook and email on behalf of the workers. They skipped class and sat with the workers all day shouting things like "No students, no workers, no AUC." It was truly a sight to behold. The quickness with which many AUC students mobilized against such unjust treatment of workers by a supposed 1st world University surprised me. The solidarity was unexpected. The amount of students sitting amongst the workers, talking to the administration, and utilizing social media to get the word out made me briefly rethink my position on the potential fate of Egypt. The strike ended on Sunday afternoon with the workers receiving 400 LE more this semester and the promise of the full 1200 LE the next fiscal year amongst other things such as the ability to opt out of health insurance. By Monday morning most students who had been part of the strike resumed business as usual. The workers went back to work and a bit of a tension could be felt. On Monday morning, the AUC students seemed to show the workers that the issue was more important than the workers themselves as they largely ignored the workers once again picking up after them. This might sound overly cynical but it seems true. The workers had spent five days being one with the students only to once again become the individual's who clean up their messes. Max Weber, an early 20th century sociologist would term the awakening of the workers position in society as class consciousness. Recognizing class consciousness is the first step towards revolution according to Weber's theory. As the disparity of wealth in this country continues to grow this feeling of class consciousness will spread and has the potential to cause some early 20th century Europesque revolutions. The social tension here is as thick as the smog in the air. Big things need to change, big people need to step up, and things need to begin to change or else serious problems could be in store for the future.
