EDL Contract Workers Protest across Lebanon, Warn of Escalatory Measures
Electricite du Liban contract workers continued their strike on Monday, warning of escalatory measures if the company failed to pay their salaries.
Employees in the coastal town of Jounieh, north of Beirut, started flocking to the company’s headquarters in the area to participate in the sit-in.
According to Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3), the contract workers in Sidon also kicked off their protests and started gathering near the company’s headquarter in the southern coastal city.
MTV channel reported that the employees closed the gates of the company’s main headquarters in Mar Mikhael, warning of more additional escalatory measures.
However, VDL said that the contract workers didn’t close the gates.
The contract workers have been protesting for the past three months demanding the state to approve their full-time employment.
The protests intensified after the company failed to pay them their May and June salaries over “legal issues.”
A ministerial source slammed the actions taken by the workers, stressing that “they are useless.”
The source told An Nahar newspaper that the cabinet session on Monday will not address the issue.
The parliament approved last week a draft law proposed by the joint parliamentary committees to include all the workers in a selection process for permanent employment.
However, the matter created a dispute between Speaker Nabih Berri and the Christian lawmakers who lashed out at him, arguing that around 80 percent of them belong to non-Christian sects and most of them support Berri, who is a Shiite.
Energy Minister Jebran Bassil also accused the speaker of “violating the protocol” by not discussing his proposal to allow 700 contract workers to stand for an official exam, out of some 2,500 employees.
His suggestion also calls for allowing the rest to become employees at private companies under a three-month probation period as the company can’t contain all of the employees.
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