Breakthrough Looms in Casino Crisis, Reopening May be Imminent
Signs of a breakthrough in Casino du Liban's crisis emerged on Monday evening, as a panel tasked with studying the files of 191 sacked employees reached a preliminary solution involving the reversal of some dismissal letters and hefty compensations.
"The sacked casino employees have accepted the proposed solution and decided to end their sit-in and resume work tomorrow," OTV reported.
The panel formed by the casino's board of directors convened at the headquarters of the Intra Investment Company, which owns 52% of the casino's shares.
The conferees decided to “reevaluate the files of the employees who were sacked from the casino one by one starting tomorrow and to grant generous compensations to anyone sacked over the factors of age or experience,” state-run National News Agency reported.
“The sacked casino employees who have health problems will be referred to a medical panel that will evaluate their files,” OTV reported.
Dismissed employees suffering from chronic diseases will retain their posts at the casino and all their rights will be preserved, NNA said.
“The atmosphere is positive and the two syndicates will convene to take the final decision on the proposals,” Fadi Chehwan, head of the union of Casino du Liban employees, told LBCI television.
For his part Labor Minister Sejaan Qazzi told LBCI that the preliminary agreement was reached following a series of contacts.
“The casino might be reopened tonight or tomorrow, because the list of the sacked employees will be reconsidered and the unjust decisions against productive employees will be reversed,” Qazzi said.
He noted that further meetings will be held to “put the solution on the track of implementation.”
“The tasked committee will tomorrow start studying the files one by one and the two parties (employees and administration) will later meet to reach a solution and end the injustice,” Qazzi added.
The employees syndicate had earlier met with Vicar General of the Maronite Patriarchate, Archbisop Boulos Sayah, who has been tasked my Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi to follow up on the issue.
A syndicate delegation also met with Speaker Nabih Berri in the evening to thank him for “the role he has played to resolve the crisis.”
Despite the looming breakthrough, the sacked employees pressed on with their open-ended sit-in outside the casino.
The crisis erupted on Tuesday, when the board of directors decided to dismiss 191 contract employees in a step it described as a “drastic salvation” move, which prompted the employees to block the casino's gates to condemn what they described as a “social massacre.”
Several political parties intervened throughout last week to reverse the decision which was reportedly pushed forward by Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh, amid efforts by Berri and al-Rahi to distinguish between productive and unproductive employees.
Several media reports have mentioned bribes and employees receiving salaries without reporting to work.
The labor minister meanwhile said that the main reason behind the dismissal step was the decline in the casino's revenues because the state “was unable to shut down gambling centers in other regions.”
Y.R.
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