Ogero’s 5,674 employees went on open strike on 24 March to demand better working conditions after a warning strike in mid-March. They also protested on Monday to reiterate their demands for better wages in the company’s headquarters in Bir Hassan, a southern suburb of Beirut. In August 2022, Ogero employees had ended a weeks-long strike after former President Michel Aoun approved funding for their salary increase.
Protests and trade union support:
Employees of Ogero, the state-owned internet and landline provider, had a sit-in on Monday in the company’s headquarters in Bir Hassan, an area in the southern suburbs of Beirut. In their open strike that began last Friday, they demanded the adjustment and dollarisation of their salaries. The employees blocked the highway that runs alongside the Cité Sportive, causing major disruptions on the road leading from the Cola roundabout to Beirut International Airport.
Ogero employees started their strike to demand better working conditions, as civil servants’ salaries have considerably decreased in value due to the severe economic crisis the country has been undergoing for the past three years. As part of the mobilisation, the employees also announced that they will not repair problems on the network, as serial outages were observed in several parts of the country over the weekend.
In a statement given to Ici Beyrouth, the president of the Ogero employees’ syndicate, Emilie Nassar, said that the situation of employees is constantly deteriorating due to the decline of the Lebanese pound and the fact that salaries remain indexed on an exchange rate set at 1,500 pounds. “Current salaries are only 1% of their original value. What the employee receives barely allows them to go to work to provide the services required by subscribers,” she explained, adding that the open strike was decided after the demands were not met.
The trade union leader added that even if the old decrees, relating to exceptional social aid, were to come into force, this would not solve the strikers’ problem, as the potential increases would not be enough to counter the relentless rise in fuel prices and the dollar exchange rate. However, Ms. Nassar recalls that while the company’s management is not opposed to a general wage increase, it does not have the funds to do so.
For its part, the National Federation of Worker and Employee Trade Unions in Lebanon (FENASOL) expressed its unconditional support for the strike which is “justified and legitimate”. In a statement issued on 28 March, the trade union centre denounced the attempts of intimidation that aim to cancel the social movement.
FENASOL also expressed its support for the social movements organised by all public sector workers, especially those in the education sector, reaffirming its commitment to the defence of workers’ rights wherever they may be.
A heavily disrupted network and a disarmed minister
Despite the strike, Emilie Nassar assured that internet services are functioning normally through the five exchanges that are still operating, as a sign of goodwill on the part of the protestors. However, many citizens and businesses continue to complain of internet interruptions; breakdowns caused by the suspension of all maintenance and operation work throughout the territory.
An Ogero source confirmed that the disruption of Sin el-Fil and Ras Beirut stations caused a prolonged interruption of the internet, increasing the pressure on 3G usage. However, rumours that a partisan party had prevented the filling of diesel in the exchanges were denied. It was clarified that Touch supplies diesel for the exchanges, but does not know how to manage the generators, which would explain the constant breakdowns. Ogero’s general manager, Imad Kreidiyé, said that the protestors were not responsible for the internet outages, blaming the Lebanese state which “has prevented Ogero, since 2019, from carrying out the necessary maintenance work”.
Faced with this situation, Johnny Corm, interim Minister of Communications, asked interim Prime Minister Najib Mikati to intervene with the army to take control of the entire Ogero sector. According to Corm, the interruption of telecommunication services is forbidden, as they are essential to the daily life and economic activities of the country. Amer Tabsh, a communications and IT expert, stressed that the interruption of the Internet could cause considerable economic losses for the country, affecting all sectors and isolating Lebanon from the rest of the world. The direct and indirect damage could be greater than that caused by the explosion in the port of Beirut in August 2020, including the complete suspension of the economic cycle.
The Minister therefore called on the employees to suspend their strike, describing it as “hasty”. He also said that he did not have the power to increase the salaries of employees and that the issue depended on a decision of the Council of Ministers.
Return to a precarious clamour
On Friday 31st March, the protestors held a series of meetings to study the evolution of their movement. At the end of several discussions, they prepared a memorandum containing and reformulating all their demands. However, the president of the union affirmed, in a media statement, that the conditions of the negotiations were not “serene” and that the protestors received several pressures to end their strike.
It only took 24 hours for this to happen; the next day, Saturday 1 April, the executive council of the Ogero employees’ union announced the suspension of the strike until the next Council of Ministers meeting.
In a statement issued the same day, the union announced that “the outgoing Minister of Telecommunications has promised that a meeting of the Council of Ministers will be devoted to resolving the problems facing Ogero and to studying the demands and reforms demanded by its employees.”
A few hours before this announcement, Imad Kreidiyé had indicated that contact had been re-established between the civil servants and the outgoing Minister of Telecommunications and that a solution was about to be found.
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