Conflict Incident Report

Employees of the Sidon Governmental Hospital held a strike, demanding the implementation of the salary scale law.

"It's the same issue, the one we've been demanding for two months, the salary scale law," chairman of the staff’s follow-up committee at the hospital, Khalil Kanaan, said.

Workers closed the hospital’s clinics and laboratories but left the emergency room open, and held a demonstration outside.

"We have 29 government hospitals in Lebanon - that’s 4,000 workers - providing service to 450,000 patients annually," Kannan said.

The salary scale law was passed in June 2017, but six months later, it still hasn't been implemented, despite urging from Prime Minister Saad Hariri in a memo distributed in December 2017.

"We have reached a wall that prompted us to take harsh measures: close the government hospital on Thursday and Friday to emphasize our demands," Kanaan said, warning that if the government doesn't respond, they will escalate their actions.

Employees at the State Employees’ Cooperative meanwhile announced that an open strike will commence at noon Thursday at the Sidon Serail, in protest of the failure to promote them to a Grade 3 job. "We do not want anyone to reward us, we are doing our duty, but at least don't deprive us of our rights," head of the cooperative Laura al-Sinn said. Governor of South Lebanon Mansour Daou joined the strike in solidarity with the government employees. "I can only stand with the [cooperative’s] employees as they have proven their merit and effectiveness ...if they strike, it will affect us all," he said. Public employees are paid according to their job’s grade, with Grade 1 being the highest paid salary.