The Union of Workers and Employees of the Electricité du Liban Corporation warned that any plan to restructure the corporation without the involvement of workers’ representatives would lead to compromising their rights and threatening the future of the corporation, considering that changing its legal form and separating its activities constitutes an actual gateway to dismantling it, and not just a technical step as is being promoted. The union announced, in a statement issued after a meeting it held to discuss the media statement issued by the Office of the Minister of Energy and the plan submitted to the Council of Ministers, that what was stated in the ministry’s statement did not dispel the fears of workers and users, but rather reinforced them, considering that changing the legal form of the institution and separating its activities paves the way for its replacement with licenses for private companies, which threatens the unity of the institution and its national role. She stressed that preserving the rights of workers and employees cannot be achieved through a media statement, but rather through direct dialogue with the union and introducing amendments to the law that has been in effect for 24 years, ensuring the protection of rights and gains and dispelling workers’ concerns. She added that the authority, which was unable, according to its statement, to rehabilitate the corporation’s damaged building since the Beirut port explosion in August 2020, cannot be trusted to manage a plan related to a national institution the size of the Electricité du Liban, considering that the institution represents a symbol of national unity thanks to its networks extending over the entire Lebanese territory, and that its workers have maintained its continuity despite various crises. The union also indicated that the state has not yet been able to collect the EDL’s dues from public administrations and institutions, which it said amounted to about $300 million, in addition to about $60 million owed to municipalities, in addition to other burdens related to exemptions and electricity consumption in Palestinian camps and centers for displaced Syrians. At the conclusion of its statement, the union appealed to Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and the ministers not to approve any reform plan affecting the Electricité du Liban without involving the union council in its discussion, stressing that any decision of this kind will have direct repercussions on workers’ rights and the stability of about 1,100 families whose livelihoods depend on the institution. The union’s position comes at a time when the government is preparing a plan to reform the electricity sector, which is considered one of the sectors most draining public finances in Lebanon, amid local and international demands for structural reforms that include improving management, reducing technical and non-technical waste, increasing production, and developing infrastructure, to ensure the sustainability of the sector. Any plans to restructure the Electricité du Liban raise a wide debate between official bodies and unions, as the government believes that modernizing the sector is necessary to address the chronic electricity crisis, while unions fear that some of the proposed options will lead to reducing the role of the institution or affecting the rights of its workers, and they demand that it be a key partner in any reform path that concerns the future of the institution and its employees.