On Saturday, eleven OGERO central stations shut down simultaneously, prompting an immediate investigation by the administration to uncover the reason behind the outage, according to OGERO's director general, Imad Kreidieh.
After contacting LBCI, Kreidieh revealed that the preliminary investigation showed that one of Ogero's employees gave the order not to refuel with diesel on Friday as it usually happens to the Ras Beirut Central, which connects Lebanon to the outside world, and the network that connects Ogero to the Alfa and Touch networks.
According to Kreidieh, this means that the intention is to sabotage, announcing to sue everyone who participated in deliberately halting the centrals from working.
In response to the shutdown, the OGERO workers’ union announced an open strike on Friday, completely stopping work and refusing to report to their work centers due to what they called neglect of their demands and salary adjustments.
However, Caretaker Telecommunications Minister Johnny Corm acknowledged his openness to meeting the demands of OGERO employees in a previous statement, but with their strike announcement, he refuses to negotiate with them, stating that they will not hold Lebanese citizens’ captive.
In an interview with LBCI, Corm emphasized that he is responsible for citizens, even if the OGERO workers’ union does not consider to follow his instructions. Kreidieh and Corm will coordinate on Monday to file a complaint against anyone implicated in the intentional shutdown of the OGERO central stations.