Over Possible Wage Cut

Lebanon's Public Sector Employees Hold General Strike

Date: 17 April 2019 - 21:45

News ID: ۶۴۹۸۲

BEIRUT (Dispatches) – Lebanon's public sector employees, including teachers, municipalities' employees and other state workers, went on strike on Wednesday to protest against a possible cut in wages aimed at reducing budget deficit, local media reported.
Teachers at public schools in Nabatieh, Zahrani, Akkar, Batroun, Jezzine and several other areas stopped working while public sector employees in other areas, such as Amioun's Serail in Koura, restricted their work to dealing with urgent matters only, according to the National News Agency.
The head of the Lebanese General Labor Union Bechara Asmar said that public sector employees will not accept any reduction in their salaries or retirement wages.
"We will not remain silent to any of such measures. What we are witnessing in the streets is just the beginning of several other measures to be taken if the government resorts to cutting public sector employees' salaries," he was quoted as saying by Elnashra, an online independent newspaper.
The general strike came after Lebanon's Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil last week said that unpopular measures will be taken in a bid to reduce the 2019 state budget.
"If we do not reduce salaries, there will be no salaries, no economy and no Lebanese pound," Bassil said.
Hariri Warns of Catastrophe

Lebanon faces catastrophe if the government does not agree what may be the most austere budget in its history, the prime minister said on Wednesday, urging national unity and saying everyone should be ready for sacrifices if necessary.
Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri’s government is finalizing a 2019 state budget expected to follow through on its promise of "difficult and painful” reforms to put the public finances on a sustainable path.
The budget is seen as a critical test of its will to enact reforms that economists say are more pressing than ever for an economy that has suffered years of low growth. State finances are strained by a bloated public sector, high debt servicing costs and hefty subsidies spent on the power sector.
"What is required from us as a government today is to carry out a budget that may be the most austere in the history of Lebanon,” Hariri told reporters after a meeting of parliament, saying the government must be "sincere” with the people.
While Lebanon was not in "a state of collapse”, Hariri said that "if we continue like this we will reach a catastrophe”. Unlike other states that had suffered financial crises such as Greece, Lebanon would have no-one to save it, he added.
Debate over state spending cuts has sharpened since the foreign minister on Saturday hinted that public sector wages would be cut.