The daily workers of the public power supplier Electricité du Liban stage a sit-in in front of the facility's headquarters in Corniche al-Nahr, Beirut on July 20, 2023. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT — The daily workers of the public power supplier Electricité du Liban on Thursday staged a sit-in in front of the facility's headquarters in Corniche al-Nahr, Beirut, to demand improved wages and working conditions, the state-run National News Agency reported.
The workers demanded to be treated with fairness "like the rest of the employees and workers in state institutions and administrations." The call is the latest in a series of similar calls amid the country's prolonged and ongoing economic collapse.
The head of the General Labor Union, Bechara al-Asmar, arrived at the Electricité du Liban headquarters and met with the protesters, who handed him a list of their demands.
Asmar then met with Electricité du Liban's general supervisor, Ali Ezzeddine, Electricité du Liban's financial and administrative director, Huda Kfoury, as well as the head of the syndicate for workers and employees of Electricité du Liban, George Sarkis, to discuss the workers' demands.
The salaries of civil servants, including those of Electricité du Liban employees, have lost significant value over the last three and a half years of severe economic crisis in the country, while the public supplier remains incapable of meeting the country's power supply demands.