President of the GCLW Bechara al-Asmar. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT — General Confederation of Lebanese Workers head Bechara al-Asmar on Tuesday demanded an increase in transportation allowances due to the high cost of fuel, the state-run National News Agency reported. Asmar made the demands during a press conference on a draft capital control law presently being debated at government level.
Here’s what we know:
• Speaking about the capital control law, the NNA quoted Asmar as saying that “the government did not refer to any of the rights holders, whether depositors, a general labor union, or even representatives of some banks or legal bodies and political parties.”
• The vast majority of bank account holders in Lebanon have been locked out of their foreign currency deposits due to informal capital controls imposed by commercial banks in late 2019 as the extent of the country’s financial crisis became clear.
• According to Asmar, the capital control law draft is not “to the benefit of the small depositors whose money is withheld and who were subjected to humiliation.” He added that “bigger depositors smuggled their money abroad and the markets were emptied of foreign currencies.”
• Asmar demanded that the index committee should convene to study the transportation allowance of employees of the private sector and increase it to LL150,000 per day or link it to the daily price of fuel. Last November, Labor Minister Mustafa Bayram increased the daily transport allowance for public sector workers to LL65,000 after it was previously set at LL24,000.
• Fuel prices in Lebanon have risen significantly since state subsidies on the commodity ended last year and in light of recent increases in global oil prices. Twenty liters of gasoline now costs more than two-thirds Lebanon’s monthly minimum wage.
• Asmar also demanded that the index committee review social assistance benefits.
• Asmar asked the prime minister to amend the transportation allowance allocated to the public sector and military institutions.
• He also stressed his support for the syndicate of workers and employees of state-owned power provider Electricité du Liban, who issued a statement on Tuesday noon announcing a third extension to their strike, which began March 9, until April 5.
• A proposal in the draft law charges the Banking Control Commission with monitoring the proper implementation of the provisions of the capital control law. In reference to this, Asmar asked people to bear in mind that this committee “has been accused for a long time of gross negligence.”