Lebanese oil workers end strike after union signs deal
Lebanon, Business, 9/19/1997

Workers at the Zahrani refinery on September ended their strike after one of their two unions signed a collective labor agreement with the Ministry of Oil.

The union of workers at the refinery's dock finalised the deal at a meeting between Oil Minister Shahi Barsumian and its president, Ali Khalifeh, in Beirut.

The president of the other union which represents workers at the public utility's refinery plant said a collective labor agreement with his group would be signed soon. "We have decided to put an end to the strike after the other union reached a deal with the ministry, which promised us a similar settlement soon," Khaled Atab said after meeting the minister.

More than 100 employees at the refinery started their strike on September 9, disabling the refinery which provides the market with gasoline and diesel. They were protesting against management's failure to renew a collective labor agreement which expired in June, 1996.

They said they had been subjected to delays by their administration for long enough, and had even made compromises.

Workers at the refinery's dock had threatened to join the strike if the ministry failed to renew its agreement.

The strike has not, however, affected the market in the South, where factories, bakeries and the Jiye electricity plant kept on operating as usual.

Workers at the utility said some of them had been "pressured" to operate despite their strike, but did not elaborate.

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