Finance Ministry employees are maintaining their work stoppage, while their colleagues in other ministries have announced the temporary suspension of their strike until Friday, March 8, 2024.
Paralysis at the Finance Ministry implies that the salaries of civil servants and pensioners will not be paid on time. The Ministry’s employees said they will issue a statement clarifying their position in that regard on Monday.
The Finance Ministry’s employees went on strike last week when caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati asked Finance Minister Youssef Khalil to temporarily suspend the financial benefits that were to be granted to these employees. The suspension came in the wake of the strike by other civil servants in protest against what they called the executive’s “discriminatory behavior” towards civil servants.
Aside from the employees of the Finance Ministry, civil servants announced an end to their strike after the government readjusted public sector salaries and pensions at its meeting on Wednesday.
However, members of the Ligue des fonctionnaires (League of Public Servants), who met on Thursday, considered that certain elements of the readjustments approved by the government were ambiguous. They called on the relevant authorities to clarify these points, which are recorded in the minutes of the Council of Ministers, concerning the rights of civil servants. They believe that the bonuses should include all public institutions, citing the principle of justice and equality between all administrations.
