The President of the Lebanese Forces Party, Samir Geagea, hosted a delegation from the Union of Bank Employees, led by Union President George Haj, at his residence in Maarab on Saturday. The delegation included Secretary Ibrahim Basil, Chairman of the Delegates Council Milad Metri, former Secretary Assad Khoury, and several members of the executive councils, along with MP Razi Al-Haj, Assistant Secretary for Interests Nabil Abu Joudeh, and Head of the Syndicates Department Raymond Hanna.
Following the meeting, the Union President stated that the visit aimed to inform Geagea about “the climate of layoffs occurring in the banking sector, which affect many of our colleagues, especially since banking management does not even respect the union officials. The most recent layoff involved our colleague, Chairman of the Delegates Council Milad Metri, from Saradar Bank.” He added, “We expressed our position, which is that we have a banking merger law initiated by the Strong Republic Bloc. This was submitted to the Parliament to amend Article 4 of the merger law, which provides for much greater compensation than what the law currently stipulates.”
The second topic discussed was “the restructuring of the banking sector because we consider that the only solution to the issue of our colleagues being laid off lies in reviving a sector that has been suffering from a crisis for four years. Unfortunately, the Lebanese state has been preoccupied with other matters, while we will not witness economic growth without a banking sector.” He continued, “The initiative recently taken by the Banking Association should have been implemented years ago, but it is fine that it’s being addressed now. He conveyed the Lebanese Forces leader’s understanding of the situation, where he expressed his support for any legitimate demands raised by the Union of Bank Employees to defend the rights of all employees without exception, especially in this circumstance.”
Geagea also showed full cooperation regarding Article 4 of the merger law and promised that the Strong Republic Bloc MP Razi Al-Haj would follow up on the issue in Parliament.
