Marathon Pundit: AFL-CIO: Bandwagon-hopping in Egypt

What's behind the unrest in Egypt. Across the board, analysis centers on three causes: lack of democracy, economic stagnation, and Islamic fundamentalism.

But the AFL-CIO Now blog adds one more that no one else has noticed. The Egyptian labor movement.

Really? It appears that the AFL-CIO is guilty of bandwagon-hopping.

Representatives of the Egyptian union movement announced they are forming a new labor federation, the Federation of Egyptian Trade Unions, which will represent workers in more than a dozen industries and enterprises. The federation also plans to set a date for a nationwide general strike for democracy and fundamental rights. Many people believe the labor demonstrations in the past two years played a significant role in giving Egyptian citizens courage to stand up to the government.