Foreign
THE National News Agency of Lebanon (NNA) started an open strike on Friday morning after its employees’ demands for better salaries and working conditions were not met.
The state-run news agency announced the strike in a brief statement on its official website, saying that “silence
is more eloquent than our voice,” and later stopped updating the website.
On Thursday evening, the caretaker Minister of Information Ziad Makary issued a statement regretting the
failure of all the efforts that had been exerted to address the righteous demands of the employees.
He added that he would spare no efforts to address the conditions of the NNA employees and enable them to continue working.
Founded in 1961, the NNA has now about 300 employees working at more than 20 offices distributed all over Lebanon.
It publishes domestic news and international news in Arabic, English and French.
The salaries of NNA employees range from 1,000,000 to 2,700,000 Lebanese pounds, worth more than 600-1,800 U.S.
dollars three years ago, but today equivalent to less than 40-100 U.S. dollars, an NNA employee said.
Since 2019, Lebanon has been suffering from an unprecedented financial crisis that resulted in the collapse of the local currency.
According to the World Bank, hit by intertwined political, economic and health crises has risen Lebanon’s poverty rate by over 74 per cent.
Earlier this month, Najat Rochdi, United Nations Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon said that
almost one-third of Lebanon’s labor force is unemployed.
He said the minimum monthly wage in the country has currently become less than 25 U.S. dollars.(Xinhua/NAN)
A.I
Tags: National News Agency of Lebanon
