"Let us rise for our dignity because we are the state. While they steal our bread and then give us a crumb and order us to thank them for their generosity, how shameless they are!" - Public administration employees in Lebanon, as if they are begging on the streets of a shattered nation. They shed tears while counting the few coins at the end of each month, dividing it among thirty days, only to gather and subtract until they end up certain and calling out: "Colleagues, shake the ground and those on it, do not remain silent because the tragedy lies not in the oppression of the wicked but in the silence of the good."
Public employees do not wait for someone to incite them to rebellion; they have reached a critical point between life and death, with reality as the proof. It is rare to find two public sector employees meeting without despair being the third among them. We wander among them searching for a glimpse of hope but find them tormented, lost, burned out, and miserable. No household in Lebanon is without a public sector employee. Since they received their salary scales, chaos has erupted endlessly. They have taken from one side while paying with their flesh from the other. In the end, they rejoice at the scraps. Their salary barely lasts until the end of the month. And this month, they were devastated by news that spread among them like wildfire before hitting the media: there would be no transport allowances this month nor salaries next month. Those absent for fifteen days risk being warned or possibly dismissed. Many curse while saying, "It will never be a job", yet they whisper among themselves, "A small stone will suffice a vessel." However, when a stone becomes the fare, things take on a different meaning.
Fifteen thousand employees in the public sector. Fifteen thousand miserable, desperate, angry, sad, and anxious individuals. Fifteen thousand lost in a forest filled with beasts called: the Lebanese State. Fifteen thousand public employees who thought life smiled upon them when they succeeded in civil service examinations and earned the title of: State Employee! These individuals slept on silk and woke up in hell. Ultimately, they received their salaries this month late and without transport allowances. Some are warned that there will be no wages after June. More than that, some ministries demand that employees pay 20,000 Lebanese pounds monthly for cleaning their offices and another 20,000 for tissue paper. In one ministry, employees were outraged when asked to pay for cleaning the ministry’s stairs, which, like all ministries, had cut ties with the cleaning company it had contracted with for over a decade.
One employee screamed, "We are the state’s fuel; either our prices go up, or we need to be cut off from the market." Another replied, "I fear they might replace us with solar energy." A third intervened: "We call for new elections for the employees’ association because the current one is asleep." A fourth commented, "Employees are asleep, not the association...". So let us ask "my name" Nawal Nasr, the head of the public administration employees' association in Lebanon: Shall we tell public employees: God be with you, and that's all?
Nawal Nasr, the head of the association, is restless; she does not quiet down, nor does she tire or relent. Poetry seems to flow from her lips as she speaks of demands and advocates for rights. Does she have any new information on the matter? Is there anything reassuring for state employees? She responds at length: "As long as our salaries have been the lowest, and after a long struggle since 1974 for a salary scale, which we finally got in 2017 after the judges received theirs in 2011, economic bodies have threatened 'the destruction of the country', even though we don't exceed 15,000 employees. They haven’t granted us our rights from the beginning, except after giving salary scales to all their supporters, including those without financial numbers, those who entered public service without civil service exams, and those who were illegally appointed to public service."
The situation of public administration employees is more than miserable: they received a pay scale costing 612 billion Lebanese pounds, with costs reaching 1,500 billion for electricity employees and others. Numbers keep piling up… and many contributions to Ogero. The collapse, which has been associated with the salary scale, and public administration employees, stems from entirely different reasons. Nasr continues: "We presented our problems repeatedly and went on strike, but no one heard us. We settled for 'what’s enough for families' in bread and cheese, or maybe even less cheese, but they didn't care about us. We said that fuel burns us, and that we don't have military vehicles and we don't go to work just one day a week like the judges, but they also didn’t pay us any attention. One employee from a southern area travels 225 kilometers to work; how can she continue to do that every day? We demanded a transportation allowance, meaning employees wouldn’t need to come daily, and that we receive compensation for the days we work and for the ones we miss so that “things balance out.” They didn’t care.
Even worse, we heard them talk about their intentions to raise customs dollar rates, electricity services, notary fees, and the costs of telephone services based on the new dollar price, while our salaries remained at a rate of 1,500 pounds… and so on. The budget, as you know, has one primary principle - it must have a fund. You cannot impose taxes on people who own nothing when their salaries have become “nothing” at all.
There’s a new situation. Public administration employees have not received, at least until now, transport allowances this month. Will they adopt the principle of "it's all broken," and with worse to come? The head of the public administration employees' association replies: "They are bargaining with us. They talked about monthly aids and cut transport allowances. We told them that correcting salaries is what’s needed, not assistance. But they play with us as they please. The compensation fund has lost its value. And in the end, we heard about Riyad Salameh transferring funds from the judges’ compensation fund at a value of 8,000 pounds. What about the money from the public administration employees’ fund? Why give one group and deprive others?"
We repeat the question: Why is all this happening? Why are there families in public administration whose children dream of having cheese in their bread? And what if the predictions are true and state employees' salaries completely stop at the beginning of July? Is there an underlying goal to this? Nasr replies, "The public administration is being targeted. Some say the existing institutions are ‘dead.’ I believe there are no financial justifications whatsoever for stopping salaries, and if it happens, it would be purely for political reasons. The state wastes money. The Central Bank burns dollars. Many have stolen and continue to do so. Each time, they excuse their actions by talking about the public administration employees as if they are 'overloaded' with excess personnel that burdens the state. No, we are just 15,000 and decreasing day by day. Our rights should be fully granted, and they shouldn't vent their frustrations on us. Our sector is the least expensive for the state. Some employees still earn a million pounds. Meanwhile, there is a decree for works in a coastal area, on a plot of land measuring 38,000 square meters, at a price of 750 pounds. Is that permissible? Our money is plundered, and they consider it too much for us to receive crumbs of salaries."
It is truly painful what public administration employees are going through. They were promised monthly aid. Last month, they were given a million and some coins, and now this month, their transport allowances have been cut. Nothing prevents them from missing their salaries next month. This is evidenced by the recurrence of the subject so that people will get used to it before it occurs. Is the state going to collapse? This is likely what is intended. All this happens while there are discussions about reducing the salaries of MPs based on an 8,000-pound dollar rate. Former MP Ali Darwish spoke about that. Public administration employees started calculating and multiplying the basic amount at the price of 8,000 pounds and grew restless and angry. Many MPs denied that. We contacted elected MP Ghada Ayoub to ask her, and she assured, "the paper sent to them states they receive 8 million pounds, and with assistance, it becomes about 10 million, nothing more." We believe her.
However, what we have heard, and which has been reiterated for some time, raises questions about malicious intentions behind passing the increase while 15,000 public administration employees’ children go to bed without dinner. What does Nawal Nasr think about this? She responds: "MPs do not speak the truth. There are real intentions to pass this matter 'silently.' Some MPs are unaware of it, but others know it is close to happening. In any case, the saying goes, 'The liar is chased to the door.'
In the public administration, employees who participated in the parliamentary elections have not yet received their dues. Those appointed as head clerks were supposed to receive 3,600,000 pounds. Those appointed as writers were supposed to receive 3,400,000 pounds. However, the latest absurdity is asking these individuals to travel to the district governorates assigned to them to collect their compensations, meaning they must incur transport expenses while traveling long distances for that! This is the strange behavior of a state that excels in punishing its people."
**The Public Administration is in Danger**
What’s next? What is the future of public administration employees in the country or, more accurately, what is the future of these administrations in general? One summed it all up: the public sector worker has unraveled, fragmented, and demoralized... and the rest is up to you!
