Ministers:EDL contract workers’ crisis near end

Ministers voiced optimism Tuesday on resolving a three-month strike by Electricite Du Liban contract workers that has threatened the country with a nationwide blackout. “It’s over. It’s over,” Marwan Charbel told reporters as he walked into the Baaba Presidential Palace to attend a Cabinet meeting. He was responding to questions as to whether intensive negotiations to resolve the EDL crisis had bore any fruit. Health Minister Ali Hasan Khalil, who is also Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri's aide, was not as bold. The EDL crisis is “headed toward a solution,” he told reporters at the Presidential Palace, where ministers gathered to continue debate on a draft electoral law. EDL warned Monday that Lebanon could face a nationwide blackout if contract workers do not end their “takeover” of the state-run company’s headquarters in Beirut. The workers are demanding the implementation of a draft law endorsed by Parliament earlier this month but which has faced opposition from Christian parties who argue that employing over 2,000 Muslim workers would tip the sectarian balance at a public institution. The workers, whose protests have included preventing EDL staff from entering the building and burning tires inside the company’s premises, are also demanding that their salaries be paid by EDL. Head of the General Labor Confederation Ghassan Ghosn, who began negotiations with contract workers Monday to seek an end to the impasse, was cautious in voicing optimism but said serious efforts were under way to resolve the issue. “Efforts are under way by all parties along with the General Labor Confederation to reach a solution,” Ghosn told The Daily Star, adding that the solution was simple. Ghosn said the only way out of the impasse was to employ the contract workers based on the draft law endorsed by Parliament. He also said that the reason for the current deadlock was the dispute over whether EDL should be privatized, saying that his labor union had opposed this idea on several occasions. “The aim of the dispute over contract workers is to eliminate Electricite Du Liban and replace it with a private institution ... we will not allow this to happen,” Ghosn said. “We are here to preserve EDL,” he added. From:The daily star