Collective Action
Ogero worker threatens self-immolation in Sidon
An Ogero employee Thursday held a bottle of gasoline over his head and threatened to set himself on fire if employees’ demands continued to go unanswered, at a protest against wage stagnation in the southern city of Sidon.
The man in question was calmed and ultimately prevented from setting himself on fire by fellow employees of the state-run telecommunications company.
Ogero employees have for months been holding protests across Lebanon, demanding that their wages be raised in accordance with a public sector salary scale law passed by Parliament last July.
Workers on Thursday blocked the entrance to the institution’s Sidon headquarters and briefly took the protest to a nearby road, blocking the passage of cars before security forces intervened and re-opened the road.
The salary scale law passed in 2017 mandated an increase in wages for all public sector workers, but the law has not yet been fully implemented.