EDL Managers Say They Are Not Responsible for Work Stoppage

Electricite du Liban announced on Friday that the state-run firm's managers have informed the director general that they were not responsible for the repercussions of the work stoppage caused by the contract workers' strike.

The managers sent Director General Kamal al-Hayek a memo stating they were “banned” from carrying out their duties at the company's headquarters in Beirut’s Mar Mikhael district.

“We are incapable of carrying out practical tasks outside our offices to guarantee the supply of electricity and provide services to customers,” they said.

“Consequently, we are not responsible for any work stoppage inside the institution amid the occupation of the central building” by the contract workers, the managers added.

The workers have gone on an open-ended strike and on several occasions blocked roads and mainly the highway near the company’s HQ to push for the full-time employment of almost 2,000 of them.

But the company's board of directors has claimed that a law, which adopted by parliament in April, only allows 897 workers to become full-timbers.

The protesters have also erected tents and locked most offices at EDL's headquarters.

On Monday, they stopped the firm's employees from reporting back to work despite calls by the board of directors on security forces to escort the staff and ensure their safety while entering and leaving their offices.

Al-Hayek and Energy Minister Arthur Nazarian described their protest as a “riot.”

The EDL employees syndicate called on Friday for a three-day strike starting September 1 to pressure the workers into opening the doors of the company and guarantee the access of staff members.

G.K.

M.T.