The Cabinet of Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf has issued an executive order to dismiss the executive board of the Egyptian Trade Union Federation.

The Cabinet based its decision on a recommendation it received from the current minister of manpower, Ahmed El-Borai.

El-Borai has been lobbying the prime minister to dismiss the Federation’s executive board after several court judgements ruled that leading board members rigged its 2006 elections.

The Cabinet commissioned the minister to select a temporary executive board to run the Federation until new elections take place under judicial oversight.

The Federation has been facing a serious crisis since the fall of former dictator Hosni Mubarak. A newly-formed labour alliance of independent unions, headed by the Real Estate Tax Collectors, have joined with more than a dozen new unions to challenge the pro-Mubarak entity.

Hussein Mugawer, the president of the Federation and a long time Mubarak ally, is currently in jail awaiting trial on charges of conspiring to attack peaceful protesters in the famous 2 February 'Battle of the Camel' in Tahrir Square.

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