Meeting at the Ministry of Education with Minister Abbas Halabi, in the presence of the president of the teachers' union Nehmé Mahfoud and the secretary-general of Catholic schools, Father Youssef Nasr, as well as representatives of parent-teacher committees, on January 16, 2023. (Photo provided by the Ministry of Education.)
BEIRUT — Private schools are set to be open Wednesday and a teachers' strike averted after an agreement was reached following a meeting between caretaker Minister of Education Abbas Halabi, President of the Teacher's Union Nehme Mahfoud, the secretary-general of Catholic schools Father Youssef Nasr, and representatives of various parent-teacher committees.
"There will be no strike tomorrow, but a normal teaching day," said Mahfoud after the meeting. "If we sign the agreement within 48 hours, there will be no problem; otherwise, we will return to general assemblies [bringing together teachers]."
Halabi indicated that the atmosphere of the meeting was positive, with everyone cooperating to ensure the continuity of the school year and support for Lebanese students. "There is consensus on the need to do justice to teachers who have dedicated many years of service to their schools," he added.
The meeting was held in an attempt to reconcile some fundamental disagreements. Private schools, as institutions, formally rejected the law on the improvement of teachers' retirement benefits and the obligation to fund the retirement fund in dollars. While teachers demanded an improvement in the situation of the 5,000 retirees from private education, as their monthly pensions have become practically worthless due to the collapse of the Lebanese lira, ranging between one and a half million and three million liras.
Mahfoud attended the meeting on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. with a new set of demands and promising to call for a strike on Wednesday if private schools did not respond positively. This came after the referral, to Parliament by the Council of Ministers, of the law on improving teachers' retirement benefits, for a second reading.
"We demand that private schools commit seriously to fund the retirement fund so that the pensions of the 5,000 retired teachers are multiplied by seven. Otherwise, we will issue a strike order at the end of the meeting," explained the union president to L’Orient Today just before the meeting. "Today, with their meager salaries for the past four years, ranging between one and a half million and three million liras, retired private school teachers are literally starving," he emphasized.
"If this meeting leads to positive results with serious guarantees, then we will continue the school year normally. And if this meeting unfolds like all the previous ones for the past year and a half, and our counterparts backtrack, I will announce the teachers' strike at the end of the meeting, starting from Wednesday," added Mahfoud.
The teachers' minimum demands revolve around schools contributing to the retirement fund so that each retiree can see their pension multiplied by seven. "This is our minimum demand. That the pension be multiplied by seven. And that the institutions contribute to the fund in this regard," he said.
"It is a compromise, since private schools rejected the law that required them to contribute eight percent of teachers' salaries in dollars and eight percent in lira to the fund," in accordance with the law.
The ideal situation, according to the union leader, would be to consider a new salary scale. But for now, within the framework of the economic and financial collapse, this initiative is not being considered.
"In the meantime, we must exert pressure for the law to see the light of day. But for now, we have no choice but to pursue the third alternative, demand an improved retirement salary, and funding of the fund by private institutions," Mahfoud concluded.
This article was originally published in French on L'Orient-Le Jour. English translation by Amelia Hankins.