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The Union Coordination Committee (UCC) comprising Lebanon’s four EI national affiliates – the Ligue des professeurs de l’enseignement secondaire public du Liban (LPESPL), the Teachers Syndicate of Lebanon (TSL), the Comité des enseignants techniques officiels (CETO), and the Public Primary Schools Teachers League in Lebanon (PPSTLL) - along with other public employees’ leagues called a general strike on 16 April, along with a sit-in while the Parliament was in session.

This arose from the Parliament’s failure to commit to promises made to teachers and public employees to decide on a wage increase for them on 15 April. Instead, Parliament opted to form a committee to re-examine the public sector salary scale bill.

MPs have warned against raising wages without securing the proper mechanism to fund the salary increase, which is expected to cost more than $1.6 billion each year. They say this would damage the national economy and lead to a devaluation of the pound.

Lebanon’s Central Bank Governor, who attended part of the parliamentary debate, recommended that the pay raise be paid in instalments over a five-year period, arguing that, otherwise, it could trigger inflation and increase prices.

Salary increase to be paid in full

UCC, considered to be leading the movement in Lebanon to raise issues of corruption and political benefits at the expense of the middle classes and the public education, rejected the Governor’s proposal and MPs’ excuses, insisting that the salary raise be paid in full.

It also called on civil servants and teachers to observe a nationwide strike on 16 April in protest at Parliament’s failure to approve the long awaited bill. It dismissed the formation of the parliamentary committee as a means to bury the draft law.

On 15 April, Hanna Gharib, LPESPL President and head of the UCC, said the strike aims to protect the salary scale against attempts not to pass it at the Parliament. This follows almost three years of struggle to get salary arrears paid, as well as a 121 per cent increase in the cost of living denied for the past 16 years.

LPESPL: ‘We want our full rights’

“We all know that parliamentary committees are the graveyard to any draft law,” Gharib explained. “In response to the recklessness and failure to pass the new salary scale, UCC calls on the entire public sector and private schools to observe a nationwide strike on 16 April.”

He also warned of escalatory measures by UCC, including an open-ended strike and a boycott of official exams, if the bill was not approved. He also called on civil servants and teachers to stage sit-ins in all ministries and government houses across Lebanon, including one outside the Education Ministry building that same day.

“We want our full rights; there is no bargaining on our right for a 121 per cent increase after all these years,” he added.

TSL: Private schools must get involved

TSL President Nehme Mahfoud also called on private school teachers to observe the strike on 16 April and warned against attempts to separate the public and private schools while discussing the bill on the pay increase. He called for an uprising in private schools to stop the draft law, which he said would affect 60,000 teachers.

“If the parliament failed to endorse the salary scale, tomorrow [16 April], UCC will take to the streets and the Minister of Education will be held responsible for the rights of the teachers,” he told participants to the UCC sit-in.

EI: Public authorities must engage in dialogue

“We urge the Lebanese public authorities to immediately engage in faithful negotiations with organisations representing teachers and education professionals,” said EI General Secretary Fred van Leeuwen. “The Government, in Lebanon and anywhere else around the globe, must provide quality training as well as decent living and working conditions to teachers and education personnel to ensure that the latter can provide quality education to students.”

Public authorities must understand, once and for all, that by cutting spending in education and not investing sufficiently in schools and teachers, they put their country’s future at risk, he went on to stress.