Ogero employees will go on strike from Tuesday. (Credit: DR)
BEIRUT — Employees of state telecommunications provider Ogero announced Monday that they will hold an open-ended strike starting Tuesday to demand better wages, the state-run National News Agency reported.
Following an emergency meeting at the union’s headquarters, the Executive Council of the Syndicate of Ogero Employees and Workers said in a statement that it will go on a strike “until the wages for all sector workers are commensurate with the existing living situation.”
As a result of the strike, work in all sectors will be halted and “all maintenance and operation work, without exception, will be suspended in all centers across the country, starting tomorrow.”
Employees of the two mobile telecommunications companies in Lebanon, Alfa and Touch, had held a strike from Thursday through Sunday demanding better salaries. The head of the Mobile Employees Union, Marc Aoun, told L’Orient Today that the union suspended its strike for 48 hours starting today after the employees, the syndicate of workers and employees, and the management of the two mobile telecommunications companies negotiated and shook hands on a “deal.” Aoun said he preferred not to disclose the deal’s contents as to not compromise its passage at the ministerial level, adding that the last step lies with the Telecommunications Ministry.
Aoun added that should the Telecommunications Minister Johnny Corm not sign off on the deal within the 48-hour limit, Alfa and Touch employees will proceed with “some proper measurements,” without specifying what the measurements will be.
A steep hike in telecommunications prices came into effect on July 1 and meant that all subscriptions must be paid in dollars using Banque du Liban’s Sayrafa rate, which as of Friday stood at LL27,200 to the dollar.
The telecommunications sector’s leaders considered the new pricing scheme to be a necessary step, due to the depreciation of the lira against the US dollar on the parallel market and substantial increases in the cost of fuel, which is used to provide telecommunication services, as the country continues to suffer an unprecedented economic crisis that first became apparent in October 2019.
However, Aoun argued that since the telecommunications sector is now securing much better profits following the steep tariff hike, employees’ wages, which, according to Aoun, are disbursed at the rate of LL8,000 to the dollar, must also be adjusted.