One year to the day after their open strike on March 24, 2023, the Ogero employees' union is staging a warning strike, today, Wednesday, which will be followed by two others on Wednesday, April 3, and Thursday, April 4. The union has given the government "a deadline until April 15 to respond to all demands without exception." These demands haven’t changed for the past year.
Employees of Ogero, Lebanon’s public provider of telecommunications and internet services, are observing another warning strike this Wednesday, to be followed by two more next Wednesday and Thursday. All company centers and offices are closed, with maintenance and repair work currently suspended. The union has given the government "a deadline until April 15 to respond to all its demands, without exception."
Contacted by This Is Beirut, Emilie Nassar, president of Ogero’s Employees Union, emphasized that despite repeated calls for improved working conditions, no positive steps have been taken in that direction. Consequently, the union has decided to stage these warning strikes. "We've been pressing for the same demands for a year," she protests, before asking, "How much longer must we wait?" Nassar further highlighted that even the salary increase secured last year following the open strike has been omitted from the 2024 budget. The employees have certainly tried to negotiate, but to no avail. "It's complete procrastination. We have no other option but to beg for our rights, which should be rightfully ours for the work we provide," she concluded.
The union is advocating for salaries that are more in line with the economic reality and complaining about the employees’ dire working conditions. Their main demands revolve around salary and benefit adjustments, as well as tying them to the new dollar exchange rate. This is crucial as their current wages represent only a fraction of their pre-crisis value, due to the pound's devaluation.
Caretaker Minister of Telecommunications Johnny Corm confirmed to This Is Beirut that the salary increase for Ogero employees has been scrapped from the 2024 budget. "We simply don't have the funds," he stated.
Ogero’s Outages Interfere With Alfa
"In case of outages, Ogero's strike impacts internet services nationwide as the operator supplies data to all access providers," explained Corm. "That's why the services of mobile operator Alfa were disrupted on Wednesday." The Fatka central stopped working due to a problem with the generator, hindering the functioning of the Alfa central in Adma. This disrupted user lines from the Zouk tunnel to Akkar. To address this, Alfa redirected all its users to another central, slowing down overall connections. However, the minister assured that the issue would be resolved by the end of the day. Alfa also stated in a press release that it was coordinating "with the Ministry of Telecommunications and Ogero to resolve the issue."
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