Egypt: Brotherhood targets trade unions

'Their attitude to workers, trade unions and economic and social rights is even more hostile than that of the National Democratic Party,' Egypt’s now-dissolved former ruling party. That is the verdict of Kamal Abu Aita, head of the Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions (EFITU), on the performance in power of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB). The MB withdrew its earlier support for a new law on trade union freedoms,Speaking to Al-Akhbar, Abu Aita was particularly critical of the behaviour of the MB’s labor minister, Khaled al-Azhari, charging that there was evidence he had been actively inciting employers and management against protesting workers in various institutions.