A taxi driver in Tripoli. (Credit: AFP)
BEIRUT — After threatening a nationwide general strike Wednesday, the Road Transport Union and the General Confederation of Lebanese Workers, or CGTL, decided Tuesday to suspend the action to give the government time to implement the announced measures and continue negotiations over unresolved social issues.
Meanwhile, the Civil Service Employees League reaffirmed Tuesday its intention to strike Wednesday, Sept. 30, and Thursday, Oct. 1. It will also continue closing public administrations every Friday to demand higher transportation allowances. Civil servants had already held a three-day strike last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
The decision to suspend the transport strike came after a meeting between Bassam Tleiss, president of the Road Transport Federation, and Beshara Asmar, president of the CGTL.
"We suspended the strike because we got what we wanted," Tleiss said. He said that after discussions with the Finance Ministry, the government had decided to begin paying a monthly lump-sum assistance of 12 million Lebanese lira to public transport drivers starting Oct. 1, through Dec. 31.
Asmar said the measures also included a 40% increase in family allowances for public transport drivers and employees in both the public and private sectors, as well as an increase in the daily transportation allowance equivalent to five liters of gasoline per day for workers covered by the Labor Code.
The measures address some of the unions' demands as they denounce inflation and continued increases in fuel prices. Last week, Tleiss criticized "the government's delay in implementing decisions and laws," particularly those adopted by the Cabinet last February concerning the transport sector.
At the time, Tleiss canceled a strike planned for late February after reaching an "agreement" with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Transport Minister Fayez Rasamny. The agreement included a commitment from the state to cover 300,000 Lebanese lira of public transport drivers' gasoline costs.
Asmar met last Wednesday with President Joseph Aoun, who promised government support for the public transport sector and increases in transportation allowances and salaries in both the public and private sectors.
The unions, however, warned that suspending the strike did not mean abandoning their demands. They plan to continue negotiations over the minimum wage, education assistance and improvements to social security benefits, and threatened to resume their mobilization if the announced measures are not implemented.
