RE: Difficult to say who caved in... Let's do the math here. According to the article, the workers were given a LE950 per month increase in their subsistance allowance LE950/6 = $158 USD
So 158 * 12 months * 1500 worker = $2.8 million. = peanuts.
The thing is, there is not a lot of houseing available near the mine, and as phase iv ramps up, this problem will only get worse with the higher head count.
Also, there is quite a bit of inflation in the Egyptian economy, so it is reasonable to expect these guys are going to need an increase now and then.