Hospital Saint Georges in Ajaltoun, Keserwan. (Credit: Hopital Saint Georges-Ajaltoun/Facebook)
BEIRUT — Employees of the Saint Georges Hospital in the Ajaltoun area of Keserwan announced Monday an “open strike and stopping of our work,” due to the “deteriorating living conditions and expensive fuel crisis.”
Here’s what we know:
• “It has become impossible for the employees who earn their salaries on the LL1500 rate [against the US dollar] from proceeding with their work,” the employees said in a statement.
• The employees also said that they were promised that a new board of directors would be instated in April to improve the situation, but that this did not happen. Accordingly, they announced “an open strike and stopping of our work until our situation is improved, which does not mean only getting paid the salaries we did not receive, but also a raise on our salaries and transportation allowances, which should allow a decent living.”
• L’Orient Today called the hospital several times to check if it would suspend all operations, but there was no answer.
• Many employees still earn the same or similar salaries to those prior to the unprecedented economic crisis that started to take shape in October 2019. Since then, the prices of essential goods have massively risen, making it hard for workers to survive on their old salaries.