Workshop with PSI Lebanese affiliates

Within the framework of the "Strategic planning for social dialogue opportunities for public services trade unions" project implemented in Lebanon and Jordan by PSI, in partnership with FNV Mondiaal, PSI organized a workshop at the Padova Hotel-Beirut, on 24 of August 2022.

34 trade unionists (17 women, 17 men including 6 young workers) from PSI’s eight Lebanese affiliates participated in the workshop and discussed the government's recovery plan and its impact on public institutions and society in general.

The PSI Lebanese unions that participated in the event are : The Syndicat des Employés et Ouvriers de l'Office des Eaux de Beyrouth et du Mt Liban, the Middle East Airlines and Affiliates Companies Syndicate, the Social Workers Syndicate in Lebanon, the Syndicat des Employés Electricité Nord du Liban-Kadisha, the Syndicat des Ouvriers et Employés de l'Electricité du Liban, the Syndicat des Employés de la Caisse Nationale de la Sécurité Sociale au Liban, the Syndicat des Employés et Ouvriers de la Régie Libanaise des Tabacs et Tombacs and the Syndicat des Employés et Ouvriers du Port de Beyrouth.

The issue of the government’s investment policy was addressed by Dr. Joseph Gemayel, economist and dean of the Faculty of Economics at the ESIB University. He pointed out that the policy is flawed and that the main challenge is how to manage the borrowing of money from international institutions in order to pay off the government’s debts. “The government’s faulty plan has enormously affected the most vulnerable,” he noted.

Dr. Ghassan Slaiby emphasized that in order to urge the administration and enhance its recovery plan, “we have no alternative except to speak with the members of the parliament”.

After being divided into three small groups, the participants resolved to create a common paper that will be circulated and discussed, and then communicate with members of parliament in order to fight privatization and make the necessary adjustments to the government's recovery plan.

Dr. Joseph Gemayel, economist and dean of the Faculty of Economics at the ESIB University in Beirut
Dr. Joseph Gemayel, economist and dean of the Faculty of Economics at the ESIB University in Beirut