Solidarity gathering by the Qadisha Electricity Workers' Union

The Workers and Employees Union of the Qadisha Electricity Company held a solidarity gathering with workers on the occasion of May 1, with the participation of the head of the Federation of Workers' and Employees' Unions in North Lebanon, union leader Shadi Al-Sayyed, in front of the company's entrance in Bahsas.

Khaled Al-Rifai, head of the Qadisha employees' union, said: "We are holding this gathering to raise our voice and to salute Lebanon's workers, and to say that May 1 is a day of pain for Lebanese workers, from whom difficult circumstances have stripped all the essentials of life and various hard-won gains. As the company's employees and workers, we call on the Ministry of Energy to provide support for this company and restore it to its proper position by establishing more thermal and hydroelectric plants."

He pointed out that "we recall that Qadisha Electricity Company used to supply all of the North, from Akkar to the far reaches of Batroun, with electric power," noting that the current energy minister has many projects for this sector, "but at the same time we stress that the company is neglected and unproductive, while the people of the North and the Lebanese expect much from us. They have long been promised 24-hour electricity, and we reaffirm together the need to secure our rights that have been squandered for years."

For his part, Al-Sayyed noted that "Lebanon's workers are not well, and we demand their most basic rights, as well as the promised raises for Qadisha Electricity workers and employees. We also stress the need to recruit a new generation that we need in Tripoli and the North. This is an issue we are taking to the Minister of Energy, who remains in constant contact with us. We also entrust him with safeguarding the rights of the workers of the BUS company and preventing them from being thrown into the street."

He added: "And we say, from here, that the South, which is being subjected to Israeli attacks, has suffered a barrage of damage. Factories there, thermal plants, transformer stations and networks have been destroyed, and this only worsens the situation and the damage," considering that "workers need greater care and attention."