General Confederation of Lebanese Workers President, Bechara Asmar, talking from the Baabda Presidential Palace after meeting with President Joseph Aoun. (Credit: Lebanese Presidency on X)
BEIRUT — After meeting with President Joseph Aoun, General Confederation of Lebanese Workers President, Bechara Asmar, said on Tuesday that Aoun took the initiative to form a committee, under his direct patronage, to follow up on the issue of salaries and allowances in the public sector, according to the state-run National News Agency.
The meeting was attended by the public sector employees, retired employees, military personnel, associations of teachers working in the public sector and public institutions, among others. Asmar said that this "broad participation was meant to affirm to the president that the public sector is marginalized.
He said President Aoun took the initiative to form a committee and invited them to join. "The committee will be under his direct patronage and will include all sectors to follow up on the issue of salaries and allowances in the public sector," he said.
“He hoped for "quick results early next year", which would, "one way or another, lead to a halt in strikes and protests on the ground."
For his part, Aoun noted that the cabinet and the finance minister are discussing a review of public-sector salaries, "because there is a wide disparity among them.”
“We will involve you in the discussion, but we need your cooperation, especially since strikes paralyze the state and deprive it of revenues, and therefore do not contribute to solving the problem of raising salaries," Aoun told the delegation.
“You are the backbone of the Lebanese state, and we want to work with you to reach a solution that is compatible with the currently available capabilities," he added.
On Dec. 15, 16 and 17, the Public Administration Civil Servants' Union held strikes and threatened further escalation "if the authorities continue to turn a deaf ear to civil servants' demands."
Since Lebanon's economic and financial crisis began in 2019, and amid the unprecedented devaluation of the national currency, which has lost more than 90 percent of its value, civil servants' salaries, paid in Lebanese lira, have declined significantly.
They are therefore calling on the government to adjust their incomes so they can regain a standard of living comparable to that before the crisis. But the government has been slow to place this issue on the agenda of its meetings, in a country where resources remain severely lacking.
