Contract Workers Continue Protests over Unpaid Wages

Contract employees at Electricite du Liban held a sit-in on Wednesday near the company's headquarters in Mar Mikhael to protest their three-month unpaid salaries by the contractor company TRICOM.

The angry workers blocked the company's entrances with burning tires and garbage dumpsters prompting the EDL employees to evacuate the building in protest.

A statement issued later by EDL employees and workers syndicate stressed that a meeting held on Monday between the contract workers and EDL administration discussed their demands.

The syndicate expressed surprise over the protests held by the contract workers despite the agreement reached during Monday's meeting with the EDL administration.

“EDL workers are not hostages and we have previously warned of blocking the entrances of the company's HQ,” the statement said.

The syndicate stressed that its employees will not return to the company until the state and EDL's administration “provide their safety and preserve their dignity.”

EDL contract workers have contracts with TRICOM SARL, major contractor for building electrical distribution networks in Lebanon.

The contract workers have continuously held several demonstration to protest the parliament's failure to adopt an urgent draft-law on their full-time employment.

The contract workers have been waging weekly protests since the urgent draft-law was put on the agenda of a parliamentary session along with 45 other articles.

But the legislature has so far failed to convene over the boycott of caretaker Premier Najib Miqati and several parliamentary blocs.

The draft-law has been proposed by Change and Reform bloc MP Ibrahim Kanaan, which the workers argue contradicts the agreement reached with Miqati's government when they lifted a 95-day sit-in last year.

The protesters said they were duped by Amal MP Ali Bazzi and Hizbullah lawmaker Ali Ammar, who they said collaborated with Kanaan in contradicting the six-point deal which ended their sit-in in August 2012.