Association of Public Administration Employees: Call for the approval of 10 liters of gasoline for each working day
The Association of Public Administration Employees called on the government to approve 10 liters of gasoline per employee for each working day.
In a statement, it said: At a time when the price of a 20-liter tank of gasoline is approaching $32, the government has approved a variable transportation allowance for the private sector while overlooking public administration employees, proving once again that it lacks even the most basic standards of fairness and reform. This is a government that responds only under pressure from the streets. Does it want to push employees into the streets, burn tires and block roads?”
The association noted that the government does not care about the negative image such actions could create for employees and for the public administration, which is the backbone of the state, asking: How can a government require the private sector to provide a transportation allowance linked to the price of a tank of gasoline while refusing to implement what it requires of others? And what happened to the established principle that the state should be a fair employer?
It added: Every day an employee goes to work, they incur a loss from their daily earnings. Is this how a state should function? Providing employees with a daily transportation allowance equivalent to 10 liters of gasoline would cost the state treasury no more than 2.5 trillion Lebanese pounds annually, while the state budget exceeds 614 trillion Lebanese pounds. Moreover, the reserve allocations for grants contain sufficient funds to cover this increase. Therefore, the association reaffirms its previous demands for improved salaries and social benefits and calls on the government to expedite the approval of a transportation allowance equivalent to 10 liters of gasoline per working day for each employee. Failure to address this demand, or approving an unfair number of liters, will lead to disruptions in work at public administrations.
In response to the government’s disregard for its demands, the association announced that it would continue closing public administrations every Friday until the purchasing power of salaries returns to its pre-crisis level. It also announced a general closure of public administrations and municipalities on Thursday, October 8, adding that it was preparing for a central sit-in in Beirut next week, with the date and location to be announced later.
The association concluded by stressing that failure to swiftly respond to the above demands during this month will push the association to take escalatory measures, which may include a complete shutdown of public administrations until the demands are met.
