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CIVIL SERVANTS' STRIKE

Ministerial committee approved additional improvements in public sector workers' employment terms

BEIRUT — In an effort to end an ongoing strike by the country's civil service, caretaker Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati on Wednesday approved additional improvements in employment terms for public sector workers. However, Ibrahim Nahal, a member of the administrative board of the League of Civil Servants, told L’Orient Today “the statement encourages us even more to remain on the open strike.”

Here’s what we know:

    • Mikati chaired the meeting of the Ministerial Committee to Address the Repercussions of the Financial Crisis on the Operation of the Public Facility on Wednesday at the Grand Serail.

    • During the meeting, Mikati approved an allocation of LL4 trillion to cover hospitalization and medical expenses for civil servants along with an allocation of LL200 billion as part of the dues owed to the National Social Security Fund on Wednesday.

    • Speaking to L’Orient Today following Mikati’s statement, Nahal stated that “until we are presented with realistic solutions to the crisis we are facing, the open strike will continue.”

    • The League of Civil Servants has been on an open strike for over a month now saying that the “civil servants’ inability to go to their place of work and to have respectful living conditions” forces it to “keep its strike open until its demands are met.”

    • Mikati also assigned the Ministry of Finance to prepare a study to reconsider salaries and wages in the public sector in terms of conducting a gradual increase that ensures consistency of income with changing economic and social conditions, inflation and an increase in the cost of living.

    • However, Nahal told L’Orient Today that he doubts the money will be allocated and considered it “all cheap talk.”

    • President Michel Aoun had signed a decree on July 20 to give temporary social assistance to all workers in the public sector and to retirees who benefit from a retirement pension.

    • Mikati also approved giving a financial contribution of LL50 billion to the Lebanese University in order to help it manage its affairs and secure the costs and salaries of professors, employees of all titles and students.

    • Caretaker Finance Minister Youssef Khalil announced that the ministerial committee chaired by Mikati on Wednesday had also approved a proposal prepared by the Finance Ministry, which aims at providing a daily “productivity allowance” for civil servant employees ranging from LL150,000 to LL350,000 per day, provided that the beneficiary attends work at least three days a week, from Monday to Thursday, during official working hours. Khalil added that the the decree has been signed and transferred to the cabinet to take its legal course and become effective.

BEIRUT — In an effort to end an ongoing strike by the country's civil service, caretaker Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati on Wednesday approved additional improvements in employment terms for public sector workers. However, Ibrahim Nahal, a member of the administrative board of the League of Civil Servants, told L’Orient Today “the statement encourages us even more to remain on the...