CAROLINE BAZZI

Beirut – More than 60 thousands of engineers in Lebanon voted for their union management. A coalition of grassroots activists and political groups won a great victory in the Lebanese Engineers Union election. “The elections of the union were postponed six times in the last year and we made preparations for these elections for one and six months. We carried out a great struggle. We held protests in front of the union headquarters for the elections to not be postponed seven times. After the protests, we officially applied to hold the elections and won a great victory,” said Salam Bossi, engineer among the elect.

“We worked hard”

The coalition passionately focused on their candidates for the elections instead of paying attention to the attitudes of the Trade Union Council and the Delegate Committee, Salam Bossi said, “We worked hard to win the Trade Union Council and union-management because the Engineers Union is one of the biggest unions in Lebanon. It has 60 thousand members.”

“Savings are invested in banks instead of being used for the engineers”

“The union invests the savings in banks instead of launching projects to create job opportunities for engineers, and we all know what happens in banks. The union should protest the engineers and the profession,” Salam Bossi said.

“We won 221 out of 283 seats”

The coalition carried out their election campaign with the slogan, “The Syndicate Rises”. “We won 221 out of 283 seats,” Salam Bossi said, “This victory is a ‘labor revolution’ for us. The union will hold elections to determine the president and members of the Union Assembly on July 18.”

“We denied a quota for women”  

The number of female candidates for the elections was very high. “We cannot talk about the national liberation movement without women's liberation. When a women’s quota was mentioned, we directly denied this quota because a women’s quota would be for the benefit of the oligarchic class therefore it would represent the political class and power, not the people. Lebanese women feel humiliated by the quota because they want to struggle and win as women. And they say we can prove ourselves and win as women.”

“I won because I am an anti-government engineer”

Maryam Nammour is one of the elected engineers. “The union and the labor force stood up and won,” she said, “I won because I stood against the existing sectarian system because I am an anti-government engineer. I won as a woman and engineer. We won because we promised to protect our rights and to improve the union.”

“There will not be favoritism, sexist attitudes, and corruption in our union anymore,” Maryam Nammour said, “Women unionists will struggle against these to the end. We will take the necessary steps to have a better living condition.”