Thousands of government employees rallied in front of the Lebanese parliament on Wednesday to warn the government not to cut their salaries after repeated hints that tough austerity measures will be imposed in the name of boosting the economy.
“It’s the first time they dare talk about cutting our salaries. If they go ahead with this, there will be a revolution,” said Michèle Ajaltouni, one of 2,000 tenured professors at Lebanese University, the country’s only public university.
In a country where the government is perceived as corrupt and inefficient, a move to cut salaries would be a “red line”, demonstrators wrote on placards.
“No to starvation politics: no to bailing out the deficit from the pockets of public sector employees,” read one banner.
The government is currently working on the 2019 budget, which will likely include measures to reduce the deficit.
This was one of the many promises made to the international community last year during a donor conference in Paris. The country received nearly $11 billion (Dh40 bn) in pledges to revamp crumbling infrastructure.
Many now fear cuts to the public sector after Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil tweeted on Saturday that salaries should be cut to reduce the country's ballooning $85 bn debt "or there will be no salaries left for anyone."
In late January, shortly after the government formed, it warned of “difficult and painful” reforms ahead.
The state-run National News Agency (NNA), which in a show of solidarity devoted its entire programming to the protests on Wednesday, reported strikes in public schools, hospitals and administrations, one day after retired army officers blocked several highways with burning tyres.
In a rare public criticism of the government, the director of the Tourism Ministry Nada Sardouk also took part in the strike. “We know of the many burdens and debts carried by the state, but the solution is not in the pockets of employees,” she said. “There are other solutions.”
Living conditions in Lebanon are already difficult: 40 per cent of Lebanese live beneath the poverty line, according to a pamphlet distributed by the organisers of a demonstration in front of parliament on Wednesday. According to the UN, nearly a third of Lebanese live on less than $270 a month (DH992).
"The government does not respect social justice," said Issam Khalifeh, a former president of the Lebanese University's teachers' league, speaking in front of parliament.
Like many other demonstrators, Mr Khalifeh argued the money could be saved elsewhere. “Mismanagement at the port of Beirut costs $3 billion a year alone,” he claimed. “Tax evasion also costs $105 million.”
Such data is not readily available in Lebanon, and it was unclear where the unions sourced their figures.
“I hope that the bigger the protest movement, the more this will push the government to find other ways of financing the deficit,” said Youssef Daher, the current president of the Lebanese University’s teachers’ league.
Public sector salaries represent 40 per cent of government’s expenditures, before debt service and subsidies to Lebanon’s national utility company Electricité du Liban (EDL).
Some institutions, such as the nuclear agency and the railroad transport department, have becoming running jokes. They employ hundreds of employees despite there being no nuclear facilities or trains in Lebanon, Nassib Ghobril, chief economist at Byblos Bank, told The National.
"We do not even know how many people are employed in the public sector," said Mr Ghobril. "Thousands are hired without a clear definition of their work. The number one priority should be to address these surplus and 'ghost' employees."
In the past four years alone, 31 000 government employees were hired, according to Mr Ghobril.
In 2017, a parliamentary committee recommended the closure or merger of 86 public agencies, he said, but this has not been followed up.
The sectarian structure of civil employment – in which the government employs Christians and Muslims in equal proportion to their demographic share – will probably represent an additional hurdle to reform. Around 650 people who successfully passed exams to work with the government two years ago have not been hired yet, said Zeina Mshek, a young secondary school teacher, who took part in the demonstration in front of parliament.
“The state will not appoint us to our new jobs because we are 75 per cent Muslim and 25 per cent Christian, and they want a religious balance,” she said, holding a banner reading: “Our only fault is that we are not from the right piece of the pie.”
Demonstrators say the entire Lebanese political system must be overhauled.
"We must start with [getting rid of] our MPs, then our ministers, and our president," said Mrs Ajaltouni, the University teacher. "I'm afraid of nothing. I've lived through the civil war. It's not those idiots who will frighten us."
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
The five pillars of Islam
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UK-EU trade at a glance
EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products
Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries
Smoother border management with use of e-gates
Cutting red tape on import and export of food
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
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Profile
Company: Justmop.com
Date started: December 2015
Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan
Sector: Technology and home services
Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai
Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month
Funding: The company’s investors include Collective Spark, Faith Capital Holding, Oak Capital, VentureFriends, and 500 Startups.
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The team
Photographer: Mateusz Stefanowski at Art Factory
Videographer: Jear Valasquez
Fashion director: Sarah Maisey
Make-up: Gulum Erzincan at Art Factory
Model: Randa at Art Factory Videographer’s assistant: Zanong Magat
Photographer’s assistant: Sophia Shlykova
With thanks to Jubail Mangrove Park, Jubail Island, Abu Dhabi
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
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MATCH INFO
Uefa Nations League
League A, Group 4
Spain v England, 10.45pm (UAE)
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What is the Supreme Petroleum Council?
The Abu Dhabi Supreme Petroleum Council was established in 1988 and is the highest governing body in Abu Dhabi’s oil and gas industry. The council formulates, oversees and executes the emirate’s petroleum-related policies. It also approves the allocation of capital spending across state-owned Adnoc’s upstream, downstream and midstream operations and functions as the company’s board of directors. The SPC’s mandate is also required for auctioning oil and gas concessions in Abu Dhabi and for awarding blocks to international oil companies. The council is chaired by Sheikh Khalifa, the President and Ruler of Abu Dhabi while Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, is the vice chairman.
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Australia World Cup squad
Aaron Finch (capt), Usman Khawaja, David Warner, Steve Smith, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Jhye Richardson, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Lyon, Adam Zampa
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
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- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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