Beirut Port workers denounced Wednesday what they called the “blind privatization of grain silos” at their expense, calling on the government to establish corporations jointly owned by the state and private sector.
The workers claimed that the government was trying to pass a law that would lead to the privatization of these silos. Shaken by the repercussions felt by workers in other sectors undergoing privatization, such as OGERO and the Telecommunications Ministry, grain silos workers fear that new private sector management might diminish their role and potentially push them to unemployment.
“We want guarantees that workers will not be losing the rights and benefits stated in their collective contracts,” said Beshara Asmar, President of the Confederation of Independent Utilities and Public and Private Institutions, in a news conference held at the port Tuesday.
Asmar told reporters after the conference that in the past, Henry Pharaon ­ a well known businessman ­ owned 51 percent of the silos, while the state owned the rest. “This joint ownership system is still in effect in most developed countries. (The French mobile phone company) France Telecom is one example.”
Asmar suggested that workers be granted partial ownership through stocks, saying “this will give more incentives to workers.” He slammed the government’s policy of employing workers on a contractual basis, expressing his federation’s support for developing the industry’s current personnel.
“Part-time employment leads to the breakdown of the administration and increases the influence of politicians at the expense of qualification in selection,” he said.
Asmar also voiced his federation’s “unlimited support” for the OGERO workers, threatening that workers’ federations would escalate their action if the government persisted with its “unfair” privatization policies. He accused the government of trying to “take on each union individually,” adding that the unions saw through such policies and would remain as unified as they had been “throughout many years of struggle.”
The federation’s president said escalation measures included an open strike until all “demands are met.”

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