The wave of recriminations has once again engulfed Lebanon's public sector, which went on total strike on Tuesday, January 30, until February 9. Civil servants are denouncing a government that failed to keep its promises and commitments.
The Lebanese public administration is on strike starting today, January 30, until February 9. The strike was widely observed across the country. Civil servants are denouncing a government that “fails to keep its promises and commitments,” while the budget for the 2024 fiscal year, approved by Parliament last Friday, excludes salary increases for them. Instead, it features “bonuses” that will be deducted from the Treasury's reserves.
The civil servants categorically reject the “productivity bonuses” introduced as an alternative to salary raises, especially because, for them, “the conditions set are arbitrary, illegal, unconstitutional, and violate all principles and international agreements that safeguard human rights and workers’ rights.”
In a communiqué, the League of Civil Servants criticized the government, saying it “continues to overlook the rights of low-income employees in the public sector whose situation continues to deteriorate.” The League asserted that the government aims at “destroying the public administration and its employees" and denounced attempts to deprive civil servants of their fundamental rights.
The civil servants are calling for the restoration of “their rights,” asserting that “they can no longer accept anything less than the real value of salaries.” “It is no longer possible to be paid at an exchange rate of 1,500 pounds while paying the state's services and exorbitant fees at the rate of 89,500 pounds.” The League is claiming a minimum monthly salary of at least 600 dollars, indicating that civil servants have not benefited from the increases granted to other employees.
In its communiqué, the League also denounced “the illegal recruitment campaign in numerous ministries and state agencies, as well as the considerable waste of funds on these beneficiaries and other proxies, rather than restoring the rights of civil servants across all categories and enabling them to perform their duties.”
Twelve Million Dollars per Day
Lebanese Forces MP and member of the Parliamentary Finance and Budget Committee, Ghassan Hasbani, highlights in an interview with This is Beirut that civil servants are paying a high price for the economic and financial collapse. “Their salaries were adjusted in 2019, just before the October 2019 crisis, and the value of their new incomes quickly diminished. They are now waiting for a new adjustment, but the government has been unable to generate enough revenue to cover it,” he said.
Nevertheless, he insists that it is imperative for the government to prioritize reforms in the public sector, which will in turn generate additional revenue in order to pay salaries and enhance the efficiency of civil servants. The major problem is “the high number of retirees and staff in the public education sector, which needs significant reform to reduce the excess” of civil servants. “Other departments also require reforms,” he asserts. “This should begin with improving the management of revenue-generating public assets, free from any political interference. Only in this case could many civil servants be treated similarly to those in the private sector,” he added.
Hasbani contends that the strike will only lead to temporary solutions through drawing from reserves. “This would result in additional losses for the Lebanese economy, causing delays in transactions and major economic disruptions if telecommunications sector employees join the strike at some point.”
What about the cost of this strike? Hasbani asserts that it is difficult to determine the exact cost of a total strike, “but each day of work stoppage could result in a vital economic loss of approximately 12 million dollars.”
However, the public sector has been practically at a standstill for the past two years, which translates to a revenue shortfall of around 8 billion dollars. This amount would have undoubtedly funded increases and, more importantly, reforms!
Endemic Public Corruption
In public administrations, corruption reigns supreme. Hundreds of civil servants are remunerated without providing any work or receive astronomical salaries worthy of top company directors. Furthermore, the deterioration of living conditions and the decline in purchasing power have fueled petty corruption. As of January 30, Lebanon is ranked 149th (out of 180) on the corruption scale established by the NGO Transparency International.
Is it normal that many company directors or industrialists are not concerned about the new taxes included in the 2024 budget because they know that bribing a civil servant will allow them to erase the owed taxes and would cost them less than the staggering taxes imposed by the state?
The strangest aspect is that as corruption increases, control becomes weaker, and fewer sanctions are applied.
The successive Lebanese governments have acknowledged the imperative need to enact anti-corruption policies by ratifying the United Nations Convention against Corruption and accepting the priorities outlined in the Reform, Recovery, and Reconstruction Framework (3RF). However, until now, no tangible reforms have been implemented.
The Lebanese public administration is on strike starting today, January 30, until February 9. The strike was widely observed across the country. Civil servants are denouncing a government that “fails to keep its promises and commitments,” while the budget for the 2024 fiscal year, approved by Parliament last Friday, excludes salary increases for them. Instead, it features “bonuses” that will be deducted from the Treasury's reserves.
The civil servants categorically reject the “productivity bonuses” introduced as an alternative to salary raises, especially because, for them, “the conditions set are arbitrary, illegal, unconstitutional, and violate all principles and international agreements that safeguard human rights and workers’ rights.”
In a communiqué, the League of Civil Servants criticized the government, saying it “continues to overlook the rights of low-income employees in the public sector whose situation continues to deteriorate.” The League asserted that the government aims at “destroying the public administration and its employees" and denounced attempts to deprive civil servants of their fundamental rights.
The civil servants are calling for the restoration of “their rights,” asserting that “they can no longer accept anything less than the real value of salaries.” “It is no longer possible to be paid at an exchange rate of 1,500 pounds while paying the state's services and exorbitant fees at the rate of 89,500 pounds.” The League is claiming a minimum monthly salary of at least 600 dollars, indicating that civil servants have not benefited from the increases granted to other employees.
In its communiqué, the League also denounced “the illegal recruitment campaign in numerous ministries and state agencies, as well as the considerable waste of funds on these beneficiaries and other proxies, rather than restoring the rights of civil servants across all categories and enabling them to perform their duties.”
Twelve Million Dollars per Day
Lebanese Forces MP and member of the Parliamentary Finance and Budget Committee, Ghassan Hasbani, highlights in an interview with This is Beirut that civil servants are paying a high price for the economic and financial collapse. “Their salaries were adjusted in 2019, just before the October 2019 crisis, and the value of their new incomes quickly diminished. They are now waiting for a new adjustment, but the government has been unable to generate enough revenue to cover it,” he said.
Nevertheless, he insists that it is imperative for the government to prioritize reforms in the public sector, which will in turn generate additional revenue in order to pay salaries and enhance the efficiency of civil servants. The major problem is “the high number of retirees and staff in the public education sector, which needs significant reform to reduce the excess” of civil servants. “Other departments also require reforms,” he asserts. “This should begin with improving the management of revenue-generating public assets, free from any political interference. Only in this case could many civil servants be treated similarly to those in the private sector,” he added.
Hasbani contends that the strike will only lead to temporary solutions through drawing from reserves. “This would result in additional losses for the Lebanese economy, causing delays in transactions and major economic disruptions if telecommunications sector employees join the strike at some point.”
What about the cost of this strike? Hasbani asserts that it is difficult to determine the exact cost of a total strike, “but each day of work stoppage could result in a vital economic loss of approximately 12 million dollars.”
However, the public sector has been practically at a standstill for the past two years, which translates to a revenue shortfall of around 8 billion dollars. This amount would have undoubtedly funded increases and, more importantly, reforms!
Endemic Public Corruption
In public administrations, corruption reigns supreme. Hundreds of civil servants are remunerated without providing any work or receive astronomical salaries worthy of top company directors. Furthermore, the deterioration of living conditions and the decline in purchasing power have fueled petty corruption. As of January 30, Lebanon is ranked 149th (out of 180) on the corruption scale established by the NGO Transparency International.
Is it normal that many company directors or industrialists are not concerned about the new taxes included in the 2024 budget because they know that bribing a civil servant will allow them to erase the owed taxes and would cost them less than the staggering taxes imposed by the state?
The strangest aspect is that as corruption increases, control becomes weaker, and fewer sanctions are applied.
The successive Lebanese governments have acknowledged the imperative need to enact anti-corruption policies by ratifying the United Nations Convention against Corruption and accepting the priorities outlined in the Reform, Recovery, and Reconstruction Framework (3RF). However, until now, no tangible reforms have been implemented.
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