President Michel Aoun is pictured as he delivers a televised speech at the Presidential Palace in Baabda. (Credit: Dalati and Nohra)
BEIRUT — President Michel Aoun has signed a decree to give temporary social assistance to all workers in the public sector, and to retirees who benefit from a retirement pension, the Presidency tweeted on Wednesday. However, a member of the League of Civil Servants told L’Orient Today that despite the signing of the decree the country’s public sector workers will continue to strike.
Here’s what we know:
• Speaking to L’Orient Today following the presidency’s announcement, Ibrahim Nahal, a member of the administrative board of the League of Civil Servants, said the government is “giving the civil servants the crumbs after looting billions of dollars.”
• The caretaker government had said on Monday that public sector workers would receive a new social assistance payment equivalent to a full month’s salary. The government’s announcement also indicated that the daily transport allowance for each in-office work day would now be set at LL95,000, up from the LL65,000 rate set in January.
• The decree signed by Aoun also states that the Finance Ministry’s treasury will be paid in advance in order to enable it to pay this assistance to civil servants.
• Nahal, however, insisted that the league is opposed to a simple assistance payout and instead demands a raise in salaries. He added that he also considers“this minor raise in transportation fees to be shameful,” since the employee would have to pay “way more than LL95,000 to commute to work.”
• Nahal told L’Orient Today that public sector workers will continue their open-ended strike, which began on June 13, until their salaries are raised.