Public school contractors announce that they are going on strike on Tuesday due to the government and the ministry of Education not deeming them equal in rights to their peers in the public sector.
Their committee was pending on Monday for the decision of the cabinet to approve their demands, notably a monthly sum for daily transport allowance of 1,200,000 LBP and the social grant that is being provided to employees and contractors in public administrations.
According to them, the Minister of Education Abbas Al Halabi, who is directly responsible for contractors in public schools, did not come through with their demands.
Unlike other employees and contractors in the public sector, hourly paid contractors have been excluded from all social and financial submissions.
“The grant of $90, which the Minister of Education talked about, amounts to crumbs, and is distributed randomly and in different amounts and below its current value,” they indicated in the statement.
The Education Minister, according to them, spoke about raising the hourly wages to 40,000 LBP for the licensees, and 32,000 LBP for the non-licensed, although their committee has previously informed him “that this wage is not commensurate with the continuous rise in the exchange rate of the dollar and the prices of food and fuel, and medicine.”
That’s in addition to contractors not receiving the full contract for 2022.
Accordingly, the committee decided to call contractors to abstain to return to school and go on strike on January 25th until they are treated fairly and their demands are met.