Bassem Chit Archive | ETOL Main Page
From MENA Solidarity Network
http://menasolidaritynetwork.com/2013/02/25/lebanon-all-out-public-sector-strike-continues-teachers-escalate-action/ (25 February 2013).
Transcribed by Christian Høgsbjerg.
Marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for the Encyclopaedia of Trotskyism On-Line (ETOL).
The Lebanese Trade Union Coordination Committee (TUCC) is still continuing its open strike for the seventh day. Public sector employees, public schools teachers, and private school teachers have been on strike since last Tuesday 19/2/2013. Sit-ins and protests are being held on a daily basis in front of the offices of the different ministries, strike committees have been organized in different workplaces to support and sustain the strike. The main demand of the strikers is to approve the new wages scale, the state has responded by attacking the strikers for attempting to bankrupt the state. The Economic Bodies League (the trade union for the bosses and capitalists) has responded by saying: “We give orders, and we do not take them”, which stems from their rejection of the proposal that the new wages scale should be funded by raising the taxes on the owners of businesses.
In response the TUCC, have called for the continuation of the strike and have today [Monday Feb 25, 2013] called sit-ins in front of the schools whose administrations have threatened to sack teachers who participate in the strike, in an attempt to prevent students as well as teachers of these schools from attending today.
Per-hour contractual School teachers and Public sector employees, earn around 6,500 LBP ($4.3) per working hour, while not benefiting from any social security benefits nor medical insurance.
Last updated: 22 May 2021