Military personnel are protesting in front of the government palace, defending their right and the right of all employees, military members, and retirees for justice, equality, and a minimum standard for a decent living. Their demands, as stated by the media coordinator for the "Loyalty to the Homeland" assembly, retired Brigadier General André Bou Maachar, are summarized as follows:
- The government should stop selective grants under various titles that aim only to deprive retirees of benefiting from them.
- The government must set a humane minimum wage for lower ranks and classes whose salaries do not exceed $120 today, thereby determining its total cost from the allocated funds.
- A portion of the funds allocated in the budget should be deducted to cover the agreed-upon minimum wage, with the remainder distributed evenly among all, irrespective of its value, to ensure monetary stability and exchange rates.
- The government should today adopt a phased plan for wage correction according to the state's growing revenue while preserving monetary stability.
- Part of the increase should be integrated into the base salary to protect the employee’s right to a fair retirement compensation.
- A retroactive plan should be developed to correct the value of pension compensations according to a fair exchange rate for the US dollar.
Thus, we urge journalists covering the protests of retired military personnel to pose the following question to ministers and the government: What increase will you propose today for the families of martyrs, the disabled, and employees whose pensions do not exceed $120? What will their pension be after the increase, and what is the value of this increase in US dollars, not in terms of the number of pensions? How will this increase compare to the minimum in the public sector after the increase?
