In a protest in front of the Baalbek municipality building, workers and employees of the municipality announced today, July 19th, an open strike, stopping their work until their demands for better working conditions are met.
The workers expressed their suffering, stating that their monthly salary is still 873,000 Lebanese pounds (less than 30 dollars).
They added that they didn’t receive the social assistance approved by the government and didn’t benefit from the increase in transportation allowance, since they’re not affiliated with the National Social Security Fund.
Therefore, they are forced to stop working and refrain from collecting waste today until their demands are met, and they issued an apology to the Baalbek families.
The mayor of Baalbek, Fouad Blouk, confirmed the eligibility of their demands. asking the Ministry of the Interior and Municipalities, the Ministry of Finance, and the Council of Ministers to secure financial resources for municipalities in order for them to pay their workers and employees what they owe.
The caretaker government is planning to pay a double salary to public sector employees for a period of two months, in addition to raising the value of the transportation allowance to the limit of 95,000 Lebanese pounds.
There is a possibility to reconsider the salary adjustment with the approval of the new government’s budget, according to Aljadeed TV.
So far, the state has not paid the municipalities their dues and revenues from the Independent Municipal Fund.
