Energy Minister Jebran
Bassil hailed on Friday Electricity du Liban's board of directors for its
decision to preserve the state’s authority during the three-month strike held
by the contract workers.
“Although the board of
directors had to relocate to Zouk power plant, it maintained through it's
decisions the state’s authority,” Bassil told reporters.
He pointed out that
there’s no winner or loser after resolving the crisis as the “state emerged
victorious once the EDL workers announced the end of their strike.”
Bassil praised the
stances taken by President Michel Suleiman concerning the matter.
“We thank the President
for defending the state’s institutions and the law prevents strikes inside the
public facilities,” Bassil said, referring to article 15 of the Labor law that
prevents public employees from striking and intentionally halting the
performance of their public services.
“There’s no such thing
as occupying a public facility,” the minister added.
The contract workers
ended on Friday their open-ended strike at the company’s headquarters in Mar
Mikhael in Beirut after striking a deal with the government.
“The agreement is
political,” Bassil said.
He called on the
contract workers to abide by the agreement, noting that there are around 450
employee who signed contracts with the private-service providers.
Bassil called on EDL
employees to resume their work at the company with “pride.”
“The challenges ahead
are immense,” the minister said.
The agreement between the
contract workers and the government includes the company’s payment of the
contract workers salaries till the month of July, the full time employment of
some contract workers by sitting for a closed exam as called for by a draft law
approved by the parliament, according to the vacancies at EDL, giving those who
don’t qualify to become permanent employees the financial compensations in
exchange for their 10 or 20 years of service at the company and transferring
the rest to private-service providers, forming a committee from AMAL movement,
Hizbullah and al-Marada movement to modify the draft law which was approved by
the parliament.http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/48804
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