EDL Contract Workers Prevent Employees from Entering HQ as Hayek Holds onto Law

Electricite du Liban contract workers prevented on Thursday full-time employees from entering the premises of the company's headquarters in Beirut's Mar Mikhael area.

“The actions undertaken by the contract workers are outrageous,” the company's Director General Kamal al-Hayek told reporters gathered outside the building.

He considered the paralysis of the company “bigger than any electricity malfunction in the country.”

Most of Lebanon have been plunged into darkness since last week as the gap between the EDL contract workers and management increased, threatening further electricity rationing.

Hayek accused the contract workers of “taking the company hostage” to press the implementation of their demands.

However, he pointed out that the company's board of directors will negotiate with them within the “law and civil service regulations.”

The contract workers, who have been on an open-ended strike for the past three weeks and closed the gates of the company's HQ, set tires ablaze when Hayek arrived at the scene on Thursday.

EDL board of directors called on full-timers to resume work on Thursday morning.

A statement issued by them on Wednesday, after a meeting at the Zouk power plant, said that “employees should return to their work in all branches and at the company's HQ in order to carry out the needed repairs and reduce the electricity rationing.”

Hayek blamed Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq and Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi on Thursday for failing to implement the law by keeping the “occupation in the company.”

EDL contract workers later called on Hayek in a statement to launch a calm and balanced dialogue to resolve the crisis.

“We are not road blockers,” the workers said, expressing hope that officials would swiftly resolve “this dilemma.”

They also apologized for “any offense, which was an emotional reaction and not intended.”

The rift between EDL board of directors and the contract workers increased when several erected tents at the EDL HQ and sealed off the gates to press the company to adopt their full-time employment.

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

H.K.

G.K.