Alfa, Touch employees declare open-ended strike, vow escalation

Armed with the promotions their 300 colleagues received during the latest parliamentary elections, employees of the two mobile telecommunications companies in Lebanon, Alfa and Touch, announced their open-ended strike.

 

The demands of the employees are crystal clear: To grant fair promotions with financial incentives according to the collective labor contract as done each year.

 

For his part, Caretaker Minister of Telecommunications Johnny al-Qorm, who had threatened to resort to legal action, told LBCI that he is awaiting the results of the two companies’ negotiations with their employees.

 

He added that he would only take serious steps if the negotiations did not result, stressing his keenness to preserve the workforce in the two mobile companies and reconsider the low salaries.

 

Touch confirmed to LBCI that coordination with the Ministry of Communications is ongoing in all employee matters, including promotions. It also apologized to its subscribers for closing the customer service center for some time on Monday morning. As for Alfa, it has yet to respond to LBCI about the next steps in this file.