Lebanese government proposals to the National Federation of Public Administration Employees have failed to convince them to suspend their month-long strike, which has led to the near-complete closure of government offices. The employees are demanding, among other things, salary adjustments, increases in wages, and enhanced transportation allowances, as their salaries have drastically deteriorated due to the mounting financial and economic crisis.
Despite promises of social assistance amounting to 50 percent of their salary and corrections to transportation allowances that have not yet been paid, the main objection to the government proposals stems from the fact that salaries “no longer suffice to buy bread.” The total amount of social assistance barely covers commuting expenses to governmental offices for three days a month, along with other pressures related to rising costs in energy, communications, fuel, healthcare, and education—matters that are not discussed in meetings, according to the federation.
Employees view the government's proposals as “fantastical” and “illogical.” Nawal Nasr, head of the federation, told Asharq Al-Awsat that what the government offers “does not secure bread for us and our families,” pointing out that the Prime Minister's condition for disbursing social assistance in exchange for employees attending work three days a week is “unrealistic,” especially since what the government promises to provide (a maximum of one and a half million Lebanese pounds, equivalent to 55 dollars) does not even cover commuting costs for three days a week. She emphasized that the open-ended strike “is strongly supported by the employees, as we demand realistic solutions, and the state must stop wasting its resources and grant employees their rights so they can continue working and ensure the continuation of public service.”
The number of public sector employees in Lebanon, under different titles and administrations, exceeds 200,000, including military personnel, contractors, temporary workers, and those hired on a project basis. However, public administration employees number nearly 15,000, and they have been on an open-ended strike since last month, demanding salary corrections. Their salaries range from 700,000 to approximately 4 million pounds monthly, which translates to between 25 to 150 dollars, while living costs have significantly risen. The lowest phone bill amounts to 125,000 pounds, a gas bottle costs 350,000 pounds, gasoline is around 700,000 pounds, and electricity subscription fees exceed one million pounds a month, at the very least.
After the strike threatened to deprive employees of their salaries this month, some Ministry of Finance employees temporarily backed off from the strike to facilitate salary disbursements for their colleagues, indicating solidarity with them. They plan to resume the strike starting today after the salaries have been disbursed.
Labor Minister Mustafa Bayram objected to the ongoing open-ended strike during this time, citing the lack of revenues under a caretaker government while emphasizing the need to work towards passing the budget. He pointed out in a radio interview that “the open-ended strike harmed citizens and daily revenues, driving salaries close to the red line.” He mentioned that his proposal to the public sector included an increase of half a salary (capped at one and a half million pounds) tied to three days of work, but then the solution became to liberate social assistance from any conditions.
He noted that “social assistance for public sector employees in July will be liberated from conditions,” considering that “quadrupling healthcare benefits is a bold decision taken by the State Employees Cooperative.”
The federation has rejected these solutions as “unrealistic.” Nasr stated that the federation demands salary adjustments commensurate with rising living costs, while all services have been raised in dollar terms, with only salaries remaining at the old exchange rate of 1,500 pounds to the dollar. She said that “we have significantly compromised in our demands, as we requested that the value of salaries be set at the banking exchange rate (8,000 pounds per dollar; thus, raising them nearly fivefold), which is the lowest exchange rate used in Lebanon now, as a first step, even though we spend to cover living costs at the market rate of 28,000 pounds.”
She stressed that this concession “will be the maximum concession we can reach in exchange for suspending the strike, alongside securing transportation allowances that enable us to reach our workplaces.” She highlighted that “there has been no discussion with the government concerning transportation, healthcare, and educational grants,” adding, “the government does not seriously engage with our demands, knowing that we are in a state of emergency that prevents delaying the efforts for budget approval and more.”
Despite the decision made to raise the transportation allowance from 8,000 pounds daily to 64,000 pounds, the government has yet to disburse this amount to employees, as it continues to spend under the twelfth-month rule, and therefore, legally cannot alter the spending allocations. The budget has not yet been approved in the parliament, although it was submitted to them in February and is still under review by the Finance and Budget Committee.
Nasr said, “We demand that fuel coupons be calculated for employees for every kilometer they consume to reach their workplaces, as this is the best solution to ensure the attendance of employees in government administrations.”
