The entrance to a mechanical inspection center in Lebanon. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT – The Union of Mechanical Inspection Workers staged a sit-in on Thursday in front of the Interior Ministry to protest "the state the mechanical inspection centers has reached," and demand remunerations, the state-run National News Agency reported.
The protestors blocked the road next to the ministry next to Sanayeh, Beirut, in protest against “continued procrastination and indifference to the fate of this sector and its workers, two years after stopping work in mechanical inspection, and to raise the voice to restore work to this sector.”
The protesters pointed out that “despite all the promises, we have not returned to work and we are still without any salaries,” and they regretted “the state that the mechanical inspection centers have reached."
According to the NNA, the union referred to lootings and losses in equipment after the centers had been shut down for over a year.
The employees stressed that "the state should take the necessary measures and take control of this sector," which had long been managed by Fal, the Lebanese subsidiary of Saudi Fal, before the latter threw in the towel after the start of the crisis.
Vehicle registration and mechanical inspection centers in Lebanon have faced multiple closures amid the country's ongoing and multi-faceted crises. The vehicle registration center in Jounieh, closed since Dec. 21, 2022, reopened on April 23. Many of the closures have been a result of public sector workers going on strike to protest below-poverty wages.
The mechanical inspection center workers have repeatedly gone on strike due to the deterioration of their working conditions as a multi-year-old unprecedented economic crisis continues to shape the country.