Students at the entrance of a school in Lebanon. (Credit: Hassan Assal)
BEIRUT — The private school teachers' strike announced last Thursday and due to begin — across Lebanon — on Tuesday, has been called off, according to the Education Ministry, which confirmed with L'Orient Today the results of negotiations held late Monday afternoon.
An agreement was reached between the Union of Private Educational Institutions and the Private School Teachers Union that the schools' administrations will collect LL900,000 per student at the beginning of each school year, to be pooled together in a pension fund for retired teachers. This agreement would update the monthly pension payments, the value of which was severely degraded by the ongoing economic crisis and the collapse of the Lebanese pound.
The office of outgoing Education Minister Abbas Halabi released a statement saying that a "mutual understanding agreement" was signed at 5 p.m. on Monday in the minister's office between private school institutions and the teachers union.
Father Youssef Nasr, secretary-general of Catholic schools in Lebanon and a leader among the network of private schools, attended the meeting to sign the agreement pledging a specific amount per student for retired teachers, though details regarding the implementation mechanism were not disclosed.
Prior to the meeting, Private School Teachers Union President Nehme Mahfoud expressed dissatisfaction with the terms of the agreement, stating to Lebanese television network LBCI earlier on Monday that he would not sign it with the conditions initially presented.
The allocated amount per student for retirees stands at LL900,000 (approximately $10 at the market exchange rate), rather than the LL1,000,000 (around $11) initially agreed upon. According to Mahfoud, this arrangement falls short of the 60 billion pounds needed to boost retirees' salaries sixfold. The teachers union sought to increase the pension payments sevenfold.
L'Orient Today viewed the document detailing the agreement between the teachers and their administrations and signed at Monday's meeting. It appears that the Mahfoud eventually accepted the amount of LL900,000 per student, listed in the first article and serving as the basis for a payment to be made in three installments between Feb. 15 and June 15 this year. The funds will have to be paid into a "fresh" Lebanese pound account, not one of the old accounts on which bank restrictions on withdrawals apply — a distinction born in light of the economy's shifting landscape.
More than 4,000 retired private school teachers have seen their monthly pensions become practically worthless since 2019, when Lebanon's economy collapsed. Monthly payments range between one-and-a-half million and three million liras, which, at the black market exchange rate, comes to around $16-$30 USD.
The issue of retired teachers' pensions has been a point of contention since Dec. 15, when Parliament enacted a legislation that increased the monthly pension of teachers six times and required private institutions to contribute eight percent of each teacher’s salary (increased from six percent) to the Teachers' Retirement Fund, including dollar-denominated aid.
Additionally, teachers are now mandated to contribute eight percent of their salaries paid in Lebanese pounds (up from six percent). Institutions are also required to present a clearance from the Retirement Fund proving their compliance with contributions.
The new measure was formally rejected by the Union of Private Educational Institutions upon its introduction, prompting the General Secretariat of Catholic Schools to call a strike in late December.
Concerned with the ongoing strikes and their impact on students, Carine Khalil, a mother of children attending Catholic school, expressed understanding toward teachers' demands for a respectable retirement but lamented the disruptions to students’ education and the prevailing lack of seriousness.
An initial agreement reached during a meeting at Halabi's office, which included Mahfoud, Nasr, and parent committee representatives, fell through, leading to the Jan. 18 announcement of a scheduled Jan. 23 strike.