The “My Action for Rights Network” organized a workshop on “The Unemployment Fund and Social Protection Policy for the Unemployed” at the Radisson Blu Hotel – Beirut, in which the Minister of Labor in the caretaker government, Mustafa Bayram, and a crowd of decision makers, actors, influencers, unionists, activists, and human rights activists participated.
First, Sandy Metrick from Legal Agenda was introduced to the network that “comprising 14 civil society organizations in Lebanon, working to achieve justice and comprehensive social and legal protection, especially for workers and employees in the labor market in accordance with international human rights law.”
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In turn, Bayram said: “We are living through something more dangerous than unemployment, which is unemployment, as the motivation to work has been lost due to the fading of feasibility, and in light of the dangerous competition posed by the Syrian displacement.”
He pointed out that “the ministry has adopted the unemployment insurance system project as it gives a kind of social safety to workers, which is the cornerstone without which society will fall,” noting that his ministry “referred the project to Parliament and supported its establishment, and it is now studying in parliamentary committees, but the National Social Security Fund is powerless.” Currently about covering the unemployment fund due to the structural defect in the fund and its debts to the state, which amount to 5,000 billion pounds.”
Abu Khater
For her part, the representative of the International Labor Organization, Lia Abu Khater, stressed “the importance of the unemployment insurance system project,” considering that it “is not sufficient in the circumstances of the collapse, and it is a proposal to add a fifth branch to the four branches of the Social Security Fund, limiting the category of beneficiaries of it to those currently registered with insurance. According to which the worker is given assistance of 70% of his salary in the first month, 50% in the second month, and 40% in the remaining months,” explaining that “the project will not include half a million wages not registered in social security,” stressing “the necessity of linking the unemployment fund to the old-age security project.” “.
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As for the international expert, Ghassan Salibi, he pointed out that “the unemployment rate today has reached 50% of the workforce, it was 17% before the Corona crisis and the economic collapse,” noting that “the project provides part of the protection, not all protection, and it is suitable in the event of companies’ bankruptcy and not bankruptcy.” state,” calling for “a re-review of the actuarial study after serious economic developments.”
He called for “the formation of civil and union pressure campaigns to approve the project in Parliament and to benefit from the arrival of the change deputies to the parliament and from the presence of the current minister of labor who supports the project.”
Recommendations
After a film was shown on the reality of unemployment, a round of discussion took place with the audience, and recommendations were adopted that emphasized “the necessity of political accountability, an alternative social contract, activating the National Employment Institution, saving the guarantee fund, creating effective union pressure, and calling for a national conference to develop labor law.”
Source: National Media Agency