The Private School Teachers’ Union has announced an open strike starting Tuesday, January 23. This decision comes after the Union of Private Educational Institutions in Lebanon failed to fulfill an agreement reached 48 hours earlier during a meeting at the Ministry of Education with caretaker Minister Abbas Halabi.
During this meeting, it was agreed that the teachers’ union and the Union of Private Educational Institutions would sign an agreement under which “private educational institutions commit to pay at least 60 billion Lebanese pounds per month to the Compensation Fund to cover the payment of retirement pensions.”
However, shortly before the meeting on Thursday, the Union of Private Educational Institutions stated that they “need more time to complete the study of the ‘code of honor'” to be fair to retired teachers.
Denouncing the schools’ backtracking, the teachers’ union declared an open strike to start on Tuesday, January 23, “unless educational institutions reverse their decision before the mentioned date” to make room for initiatives led by Halabi. The union criticized the path taken by educational institutions, accusing them of “depriving over 4,000 retired teachers of their livelihood.” It emphasized that “after 40 years of service, these teachers receive two to three million Lebanese pounds per month as a retirement pension.”
“What happened proves that these institutions disregard the fate of retired teachers,” said a statement from the union, which claims to have given a long deadline, nearly four years, to resolve this issue, to no avail.
The union concluded by stating that its executive council will continue its meetings to closely monitor developments in this matter and consequently make appropriate decisions.
