The Justice Palace in Baabda. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT — Auxiliary employees at the Justice Palace in Nabatieh, southern Lebanon, announced Friday they would go on strike for a week starting Monday, demanding better salaries and working conditions, according to the state-run National News Agency.
"The judicial auxiliary employees worked until their last breath to contribute to the running of the judicial facility," they said in their statement, adding that "our salaries for the current month do not exceed $50 ... on top of the deterioration of health and educational benefits."
The statement added that during the strike, two employees will remain at the Justice Palace to handle civil and criminal complaints.
This strike is the latest in a series of similar protests by civil servants — notably an ongoing eight-month strike by public administration employees — demanding improved compensation amid the Lebanese lira’s depreciation on the parallel market.
Following months of paralysis in Lebanon's judicial system, judges, who had been observing a strike since mid-August 2022 to demand salary adjustments, suspended their strike in January.
Their decision came after a Dec. 28 general assembly that resulted in promises of new financial aid from the judges' mutual fund, endorsed by the Finance Ministry.