An Alfa store in Akkar. (Credit: Courtesy of Michel Hallak/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — The Mobile Operators Syndicate Lebanon announced on Monday "a complete cessation of work," starting on Monday afternoon, "until the employees’ salaries are corrected and fully paid in fresh dollars, and the collective labor contract is signed," according to a statement published by state-run National News Agency (NNA).
The statement released by the union following its decision declares the strike will continue until it obtains "the necessary written approval" for a collective labor contract that preserves the rights and benefits of all employees, "without any prejudice."
The trade union is made up of over 2,000 employees from Alpha and Touch, Lebanon's only telecommunications companies, according to numbers published on its website.
The union of mobile operators says that if salary adjustments are not applied, "it will be forced to resort to escalatory steps, given the seriousness of this issue." It added that if telecommunications employees do not receive their salaries at their actual value, compounded with "the taxes of the 2024 budget ... their salaries will decrease even more."
The 2024 budget law was approved by Parliament on Jan. 26 and signed by Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri on Monday.
"After more than six months of positive and constructive negotiation by the union and with all those concerned on a new formula to renew and improve the collective labor contract, and more than three months after agreeing on a consensual formula between all parties to ensure the renewal of the contract in a way that preserves the rights of the sector’s employees ... those concerned [are still not giving the written approval to sign the contract]," the statement reads.
This is not the first time the union has called a strike. In July 2023, the union announced a strike over unpaid salaries.