A thousand workers staged a sit-in in front of Petrojet’s headquarters to protest what they say were unfair dismissals.

The protesters, who worked for the Suez-based petroleum company under seasonal contracts, caused a traffic problem for a while before police and army forces peacefully persuaded them to stay away from the street.

“We decided to stage a sit-in after being laid off,” said Mohamed Ragab, one of the sacked employees.

“We all work on projects in Suez and other cities on a contract basis, although most of the protesters’ parents are Petrojet employees.”

“The company insists on not giving us full rights as employees.”

A Petrojet official countered that all protesters used to work on a temporary basis and were granted high wages during their respective short-term tenures.

“It’s not normal for the company to hire all that number of employees these days,” he explained.

(Source: ahram.org)