The city of Beirut was overflowing with garbage as RAMCO employees went on strike for three days consecutively. Now, Beirut Governor promises that the city will be cleaned.
RAMCO employees, who are migrant workers, are demanding their salaries in USD as per their contracts.
The workers have been protesting their rights for months now. Like the Lebanese citizens, they are also affected by the lack of dollars and economic crisis sweeping the nation.
However, RAMCO is not able to make the payments as the government is late in paying its dues amounting to up to $7 million, according to the company’s director Walid Bou Saad.
On Tuesday evening, Beirut Governor Marwan Abboud stated that he will pay RAMCO $6 million of the dues.
From his side, Bou Saad reportedly said that the transfer was converted at a rate of 1507.5 LBP per dollar. Meanwhile, the dollar is trading just under 8,000 L.L. on the black market.
At least, for now, “the amount is sufficient to pay salaries and diesel”, said Bou Saad. Nonetheless, it won’t be enough in the long term.
“We still have to pay for maintenance and spare parts, which is all in dollars and we don’t have the ability to buy dollars,” he added.
It’s a quick fix, a bandage on a bullet wound. But for now, Beirut city will be cleaned from the piling smelly health-hazard mess.
