ABSTRACT
Several internal and external factors contributed towards labor’s role as a significant social movement within Egypt’s contentious opposition against the regime. The Municipal Real Estate Tax Authority (RETA) workers developed this social movement, which became the first independent trade union with support from international, bilateral, and regional groups. In this chapter, I will examine the various forces that contributed to the creation of the social movement leading to the first independent trade union since 1957 and its political role. I will evaluate this movement for trade union rights and their collective contentious action through the lenses of social movement theory and practices.
This chapter will examine (1) the mechanisms, repertoires, brokers, inducements, and frames used by the RETA workers to establish their social movement; (2) the differing efforts (internally and externally of Egypt) that supported RETA as a result of the protest social movement by the RETA workers; (3) how all of these factors contributed to the success of this social movement; and (4) its important political role.
