Hala Kilani
Daily Star staff

The streets will be filled for two days with mini-bus drivers but no rides will be had after their union rejected on Tuesday concessions proposed by the General Labor Confederation and announced their intention to push for a full ban or better diesel.
Union head Abdullah Hamadeh convened a news conference to respond to offers of compensation in some cases as high as LL9 million, presented a day earlier by GLC president Ghassan Ghosn. Compensation was to be paid by the Higher Relief Committee.
Rejecting a monetary solution, Hamadeh instead announced sit-ins to be held Wednesday in front of serails throughout the country and a peaceful march Thursday from Barbir to Mathaf, where the regular Cabinet session will be held.
“Higher Relief Committee money wasn’t meant to pay for the mistakes made by the government and for their consequent sickly solutions,” Hamadeh told The Daily Star, referring to the government legalizing their circulation with one law and banning them from the streets with another. “That money is meant for helping people in need.”
“We warn (officials) against playing with Higher Relief Committee money … We want to know to whom it’s going to be paid, because all of us legal mini-buses (owners) do not want it. We believe it will ultimately be given to illegal vans,” said Hamadeh, who has asserted that he represents the 4,000 legal mini-buses while an additional 8,000 illegal mini-buses circulate throughout the country.
Hamadeh slammed Ghosn’s claim that 800 mini-buses had already changed their engines to gasoline successfully, saying such vehicles were part of the illegal fleet working with counterfeit or taxi license plates.
Addressing Finance Minister Fouad Siniora, Hamadeh said: “We ask you to spend the money that you allocated to murder (mini-bus owners’) families on hospital owners so they can open up their doors to poor people … because we don’t need your money. Just let us work.”
According to Hamadeh, the government-proposed solutions, which include using compensation payments to convert diesel engines to gasoline, were not “feasible” in that some mini-bus manufacturers did not build gasoline engines.
He also said forcing mini-bus drivers to pay more than double the fuel price paid by full-size buses, which are not affected by the ban stipulated in Law 341, would compromise the smaller vehicles’ competitiveness. Mini-bus fares would have to rise from LL500 to LL1,000 after the gasoline engines were in place, while bigger buses could continue charging LL500.
The union head also rejected GLC claims that transport committees, which Ghosn said he had formed and were in favor of compensation, were actually in support of Hamadeh and his continuing battle for higher-quality, “green” diesel for all buses or an all-encompassing diesel ban.
“Like Hamadeh, we reject all of these incomplete solutions and compensations that were created and announced without our prior knowledge or agreement,” said Ali Atrash, a transport committee member.

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