Union could lead to all-out strike damaging the country
Lebanon, Economics, 10/17/1997

Striking electricity workers plan to continue their protest until they receive an official, written memoranda accepting all their demands, despite signs that half of the outstanding issues have been resolved.

After a meeting between the workers' union and Minister of Electricity and Water Resources Elie Houbaika on October 16, union head Emile Jeha said the minister promised that at least three of the six demands would be granted.

However, Jeha stressed that the union would proceed with the strike until "something substantial is achieved" at a meeting of the Electricite du Liban (EDL) board of directors, scheduled for 5 p.m. today.

The positive signs followed a long day of negotiations between the union and EDL's general director, Joseph Hawa, which had appeared to end in deadlock.

Earlier in the day, sources close to the union had revealed that, if the six basic demands were not met and negotiations failed to reach a consensus, workers might resort to shutting down generating plans all over the country, but Jeha denies this is their preferred strategy. After a meeting of the union's executive council, he said: "We hope that the situation does not reach this point."

However, the body decided to escalate their action by refraining from generating more power to meet daytime demand.

"Nighttime consumption does not exceed 450 megawatts, but demand shoots up to 650 during the day. We will leave it at its nighttime level," he said.

The employees also made an exception to their pledge to report for work but refuse to do any work or carry out repairs. In a statement, the union said it sent a team to technicians to repair a high voltage line supplying power to the Nabatieh areas after it was damaged by Israeli shelling on October 16 because of its support to the "resistance of people in the strike is peaceful."

However, damage to power plants and facilities in Hazmieh,Sidon, and Rashayah was left unrepaired, and Hawa was not optimistic about the state of the networks and the power supply.

"Power cuts are caused by sudden damage to the networks, and we can never predict if further damage will occur, but this will definitely put the people's interests in jeopardy," he said.

Meanwhile in the North, workers at the Qadisha power plant decided to suspend their strike without explaining why they chose to break ranks with their colleagues across the country.

Previous Stories:
  Workers break their strike to repair lines destroyed by Israel   (10/16/1997)
  Open electricity strike   (10/15/1997)
  Power workers threaten strike   (9/30/1997)

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