The week in strikes: who did not work in Egypt and what did they win?

Hundreds of thousands of public sector workers have shaken Egypt with a barrage of strikes over the last week.

Workers who have taken strike action are raising various types of grievances depending on the conditions of their respective professions, but all seem to insist on one common demand: Prime Minister Essam Sharaf must finally honour his months-old promise to raise minimum wage for all government employees to LE 700.

Some strikers have suspended actions after Sharaf or his ministers promised to rapidly resolve workers’ grievances. Others groups to whom Sharaf has failed to give any comforting promises push on with their strikes.

Three main groups of workers are leading the strike movement, and continue to make headlines in all major media outlets. In all three cases, Sharaf has said that his government simply does not have the resources to meet workers' demands.

Ahram Online here documents the main demands of each group of workers, the estimated levels of participation in work stoppages and assesses the current state of each struggle.

Group 1: Teachers

Estimated number of teachers in Egypt: 1.5 million

Teachers began their strike on Saturday, 17 September in a number of governorates, spreading the strike to Cairo and Alexandria the following day.