Workers at Egypt's largest textile factory have ended a week-long strike after the government agreed to their demands, the strike committee said in a statement.
Workers at the Misr Spinning and Weaving Company in Mahalla el-Kubra, north of Cairo, said the government had agreed to grant them additional bonuses, and negotiate over further rises.
"After the rise in Arab, local and international solidarity with the workers of Ghazl el-Mahalla, the workers were victorious in negotiations," said the statement on Saturday.
The strike began after workers were paid 20 days in bonuses instead of the 150 they said they were entitled to.
Thousands of workers staged a six-day sit in at the factory, which employs 27,000 people and exports textiles all over the world.
Factory managers said the strike cost them millions of dollars a day.
The strikers had demanded better working conditions, increased benefits and higher wages, with some receiving as little as $44 a month.
Rising prices
Under the new agreement, the workers are to receive an additional 70 days of wages, while the firm's general assembly will meet to set additional payments so that the total bonus is at least 130 days.
The strike, the second at that factory in less than a year, came amid a wave of labour unrest in the country as workers demand better benefits and express fear over plans to privatise state-owned businesses.
In many cases, government officials have agreed to workers' demands.
The strike came as the government statistics bureau warned recently that the price of basic food stuffs has risen by 48 per cent in the past year.