“Lebanon Debate”
The strike of public sector employees entered into force today and will continue until tomorrow evening, amid mounting objection to living conditions and declining purchasing power. Attention is turning to what the communications between employee representatives and the government will lead to, with the threat of further escalation if the demands are not translated into practical steps.
In this context, the head of the Public Sector Employees Association, Raed Hamadeh, confirmed in an interview with “Lebanon Debate” that the strike announced by the association came “as a natural response to the government’s announcement of the issuance of Decree No. 3214 dated June 18, 2026, which includes 98 provisions that mostly affect the citizen and the employee, with rates ranging between 1 and 3 percent.”
Hamadeh explained, “The government retracted this announcement after only three days and suspended the work of this decree, while the Public Sector Employees Association was the only body that took the initiative to announce a strike in response to this decree.”
He pointed out that the association received the decision to suspend the decree “in good faith,” but that did not prompt it to back down from the strike that had been announced on Thursday and Friday, July 2 and 3. He explained that “the continuation of the strike aims to remind the basic demands of employees, most notably the approval of fair salaries that enable the employee to live in dignity, similar to the salaries of workers in regulatory bodies that, unfortunately, enjoy the blessing of people in power and politics.”
Hamadeh revealed that the association received a call from a government body directly concerned with the file of public sector employees’ demands, noting that “a meeting will be held during the next week to present these demands in detail, and in light of the results of this meeting, the association will determine the direction of its action, whether by escalating or by simply going on the strike that was announced.”
Speaking about the financial reality, Hamada considered that the authority adopts the same approach every time the issue of public sector employee rights is raised, saying: “From the authority’s point of view, when it comes to giving the employee his rights, the lack of financial capabilities and fear of any economic collapse are always used as an excuse, while the financial facts indicate otherwise.”
He added: “Sufficient financial savings have been achieved since 2025, despite all the difficult circumstances that Lebanon has gone through, and there are reserves available at the Bank of Lebanon that ensure the possibility of approving fair salaries for employees, and therefore talk about the absence of funding does not fully reflect reality.”
Regarding the repercussions of the strike on the state’s finances, Hamadeh stressed that the association does not aim to harm the public treasury, explaining that “the impact of the strike on the state’s revenues is to postpone collection and stop it temporarily, and this naturally leaves a painful impact at the state level, but we do not want this reality to continue. However, we sometimes find ourselves obliged to resort to these means after all other means to demand employee rights have been exhausted.”
