Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati met, before noon yesterday at the Grand Serail, with the caretaker Minister of Communications, Johnny Al-Qarm, who said following the meeting: “I put him on the subject of strikes in the telecommunications sector, and I informed him of my point of view that companies cannot To bear any additional burdens, and we are not ready to change any decision now regarding the increases that they demand, whether it is in relation to salaries or “in fresh dollars.” We also touched on the importance of continuity of the public utility and the mechanism that we can follow.
He added: “Disrupting the public facility is a red line, and we will see what are the legal ways to deal with the issue, and the big problem is that the employees are not all of one opinion. What the union is currently doing is wrong, and the issue requires treatment, and we will see the legal means that can be followed. Touch Company” It is not participating in the strike. As for the “Alfa” company, it is carrying out a strike and pressuring the “Touch” company to participate in it. Surprisingly, the salaries of the employees of the two companies are around $2,500, of which they receive 25 percent “fresh” and soon they will receive the remaining amount of 15,000 pounds, and they also have insurance. From the first degree for them and all members of their families in “Fresh”, they are also paid the value of medicines, and they have school aid amounting to 8 thousand dollars for each child, including 20%, “Fresh, the aid is great for them, and I want to preserve the sector and I cannot increase the burden.”
Then Mikati received the head of the Industrialists’ Association, Salim Al-Ze’ni, who was heading a delegation. Mikati also met with Representative Qassem Hashim, and the director of intelligence in the army, Brigadier General Tony Kahwaji.
After that, Mikati received a delegation of French representatives in the European Parliament headed by Representative Thierry Mariani, and it included Messrs. Jordan Bardella, Anika Bruno and Jean-Lynn La Capelle. During the meeting, they discussed the bilateral relations between the two countries, and the developments that Lebanon is witnessing and the challenges it faces.
The delegation expressed its closeness to the Lebanese people because of the crises they are suffering from, stressing the historical relations between the two countries.