2181 employees laid off in Beirut by end of July 2016

A meeting was held between the Minister of Labor, Sejaan Azzi, and a delegation representing various factions of the economic sector namely the president of the association of Beirut merchants, Nicolas Shammas.  The meeting focused on the massive lay outs of employees as well as the root causes of this problem.  Azzi warned about the increasing trend of mass lay outs which reached in Beirut 2181 employees and that is only between January and the end of July, according to figures of the Ministry of Labor.  He considered that this is the result of the economic, social and political crisis facing the country, adding that there are “companies which are paying half salaries while others do mass lay offs without compensation and others delay lay offs”.  In conclusion, Azzi noted that “the Ministry of Labor will work together with economic institutions and trade unions and will act as a watchdog and will also try within the parameters of its mandate and capacity to ensure the resilience of economic institutions so that there are jobs available as well as an ability to pay compensations and incentives to workers to enable them to overcome this difficult period”. Shammas noted for his part that the statistics released by the Ministry are quite high.  He attributed this to the economic decline currently facing Lebanon.  Shammas further reiterated the commitment of employers to secure the entitlements of the state, suppliers, banks and employees.  He added that lay offs is their last recourse.  Shammas concluded that” employers are keen on their employees but some companies are rather opportunists as they tend to replace Lebanese employees by foreigners.”  This Shammas considered as being unacceptable while describing this trend as “poisoning the Lebanese economy”. (Al Mustaqbal – Al-Diyar – Daily Star – September 10, 2016)