Caretaker Telecoms Minister Johnny Corm on Wednesday urged employees of state operator Ogero, who have been on a strike since Friday amid several phone and internet outages, to suspend the action, which he described as “hasty.” The Ogero strike is the latest in a series of similar protests by civil servants – notably an ongoing eight-month strike by public administration employees – demanding improved compensation amid the Lebanese lira’s depreciation on the parallel market. Ogero employees announced an open-ended strike on Friday to demand better working conditions, following a “warning” strike earlier last week. “I do not have the authority to increase the salaries of employees, and the matter depends on a cabinet decision,” Corm said in a press conference on Wednesday. “Announcing the strike is a hasty decision, and it is not possible for me to approve the demands on my own, and if I were the authority, I would have approved them because they are rightful [demands].” “Blaming the Telecoms Minister is unacceptable,” Corm added. On Saturday, Ogero announced that telephone stations in several regions of Lebanon were out of service due to excess pressure on the electrical generators powering them. Due to the workers’ strike, internet and telephone outages are expected to take some time to remedy, Ogero added at the time. “The fall of the telecoms sector threatens the security, economic and social situation as a whole,” Corm said Wednesday. “I appeal to the officials – shoulder your responsibilities towards the sector.” Ogero employees also held a sit-in on Monday to reiterate their demands for improved salaries in front of the company’s headquarters in Bir Hassan, an area in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Source: National News Agency-Lebanon