By Van Meguerditchian
BEIRUT: Electricite du Liban contract workers
will end their strike Friday after the Free Patriotic Movement and Speaker
Nabih Berri reached a compromise to end the crisis which had threatened a
nationwide blackout.
After weeks of discord between ministers loyal
to the FPM and others loyal to Berri over the demands of hundreds of EDL contract
workers, an agreement was reached Thursday that satisfied both sides.
When details of the breakthrough arrived to
EDL’s headquarters in Beirut’s Mar Mikhael neighborhood in the afternoon,
cheers quickly turned into tears for many contract workers who have been on
strike for the more than 90 days.
The contracts of most of the workers ended in
June, and Energy Minister Gebran Bassil has since insisted they should be hired
by the private service providers tasked by the state-run EDL.
But the contract workers continued to maintain
they were entitled after years of working there to full-time jobs at EDL and to
pensions when they retire.
The informal agreement has yet to be announced
by the Labor Ministry. But under it the Labor Confederation will give contract
workers who pass the EDL examination full-time employment either at the private
service providers or EDL, and give pensions to those who fail the exam.
According to the agreement, the contract
workers will also receive salaries for the past three months from the service
providers.
Although workers once demanded they all be
hired by EDL, many voiced their approval of the compromise which will provide
pensions for those who failed the exam or resign.
Sources who took part in the negotiations
among Berri, Hezbollah officials and Bassil said the agreement was endorsed by
rival sides in the government in order to prevent the collapse of Prime
Minister Najib Mikati’s Cabinet.
The sources said the recent closure of EDL by
the contract workers, “the stubbornness of Bassil” and the shaky security
situation in the country converged to push negotiations forward in the past 48
hours.
The tent erected inside EDL’s main hall in Mar
Mikhael was still standing as contract workers began to collect their
belongings and papers pending the final decision to end the sit-in.
For many, the EDL premises became another home
over the past several months. “I’ve been here for 96 days,” said Abdullah
al-Hajj, 39.
“I have been borrowing money to pay my
children’s schools tuition in recent months, and we won’t leave here until we
get our rightful demands,” said Hajj, the father of two children.
Although many criticized the agreement and
Berri’s request to end the sit-in to make way for a new round of negotiations
with the Labor Ministry and EDL, Hajj said the compromise achieves a lot for
the contract workers. “We never dreamed of receiving a full pension from EDL,
now there is talk of pension,” he added.
According to Hajj, Bassil had refused to
discuss giving full-time employment to more than 400 contract workers, but the
sit-in has pressured him to provide more than 1,200 full-time employment
positions.
Hajj, a resident of Beirut’s southern suburbs,
has been working for the past 14 years as a technician for EDL, installing new
grids and power posts in different parts of Lebanon. Other contract workers are
bill collectors, repairmen and maintenance workers.
Abdullah wants to continue to work for EDL and
says he would refuse a job at the private service providing companies, an
option offered by Bassil earlier.
In recent weeks, FPM supporters have denounced
the contract workers’ occupation of the EDL premises and have organized several
rallies against the workers’ sit-in against Bassil.
Despite mounting pressure to resign following
the severe power cuts in the country and especially in the capital, Bassil has
refused to comment on the ongoing negotiations with Berri to end the
electricity crisis.
Beirut MP Mohammad Qabbani said that the
residents of the city will make it through this period of difficulty. “The
capital and its people will endure with pride in the face of corruption, until
this era of darkness is succeeded by a new shining dawn that brings with it
electricity, water and all elements of life,” Qabbani said in a statement.
Blaming the recent power
cuts in Ashrafieh on Bassil, Beirut MP Nadim Gemayel accused the FPM of
adopting “militia-style” tactics similar to the ones adopted by its allies in
Hezbollah and Amal Movement.http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2012/Aug-03/183248-edl-workers-end-strike-after-berri-aoun-deal.ashx#axzz22OD0d0aY
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