EDL workers announce three-day strike

BEIRUT — The Electricité du Liban (EDL) workers' union announced on Tuesday a three-day "preventative" strike set to begin on Wednesday May 8 and continuing until Sunday, May 10.

The strike was decided following a meeting addressing the further delay of the readjustment of EDL workers' salaries in accordance Lebanon's through-the-roof inflation and economic crisis. All employees whose absence would cause danger to public safety will remain at work, the union statement added.

There have been regular calls for strike action at EDL since the onset of the devastating 2019 economic crisis that plunged the majority of the population into poverty. The most recent strike took place from April 19 to 25, 2024, during which the union also demanded wage adjustments.

In a press release issued on Tuesday, the union condemned management for "shying away whenever there is a deadline in relation to employees and workers, under false pretexts."

The text refers to an emergency plan set in place by EDL to provide financial support for employees, the implementation of which remains delayed more than a year later, "depriving these employees of a much-needed financial boost in these difficult circumstances."

Pointing out that these employees still go to work on a regular basis, despite EDL's failure to follow through with its financial obligations, the union voices fears that "this financial support will lose its value as a result of the delay."