Protesters in Chehim stage a sit-in infront of the NSSF's office on June 5, 2023. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT — Workers and daily workers at the National Social Security Fund in several Lebanese regions staged a sit-in Monday in front of local NSSF centers to demand improved living conditions amid the deepening economic crisis, the state-run National News Agency reported.
"Symbolic" sit-ins notably happened in Jbeil (north of Beirut), Chehim (in the Chouf region), and Halba (Akkar), according to the NNA.
In Chehim, protesters, along with the head of the center and its employees, are demonstrating to demand an improvement in the fund’s contributions in terms of medication and to ask for the funds necessary to secure the continuity of the employees' work, NNA reported.
In Halba, a handful of employees protested inside the NSSF center to ask for "their rights and those of the beneficiaries," and among others a salary raise "similar to the one granted to other public servants."
Protests by civil servants across Lebanon and across various sectors have become frequent as the Lebanese lira has lost more than 90 percent of its value against the dollar over the last three years, plunging more than three-quarters of the Lebanese population below the poverty line.
Meanwhile, without a president or fully empowered cabinet, Lebanese authorities are still stalling the reforms needed to stem the country's economic and financial collapse and receive a potential International Monetary Fund loan.