BEIRUT, Nov 29, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Weeks into a protest movement partly
driven by a collapsing economy, Lebanese interior architect Laeticia Nicolas
was called in by her boss and told she was fired.
“There had been fewer and fewer projects for a year,” said the 28-year-
old, who since October 17 has taken part in unprecedented anti-government
protests sweeping the country.
“Before the revolution began, they warned us they’d be paying just half
our salaries in exchange for reducing working hours,” she said.
But as the protests gained momentum, he downsized his team. Nicolas was
informed of the bad news at the end of the month when she received her
salary.
“It’s not because of the revolution, but it may well have accelerated
things,” she said.
After years of political turmoil, the Lebanese economy is in a sharp
downturn, banks have restricted access to dollars while prices have risen.
Amid the crisis, thousands of Lebanese say their jobs are under threat.
Activists have denounced what they call illegal lay-offs and urged the
labour ministry to intervene.
Some people, like Nicolas, have lost their jobs altogether; others have
been told to work part-time for a fraction of their original salary.
A woman who asked to be identified as “Mary” was among those forced to
take a pay cut. For 16 years she has been a saleswoman at an upper-end
women’s clothing shop, and now she fears her job may be on the line.
“Since the start of November we’ve been taking two extra days off a week,”
said the 46-year-old, who asked that her real name not be used in order to
protect her job.
“They said they would have to pay us half our salaries.”
– ‘We fear the worst’ –
She said that she and around 20 colleagues did not object “because we fear
the worst, and no one is going to risk losing their job in such
circumstances”.
“It’s been bad for months. In recent days, the shop takings haven’t even
been 50,000 Lebanese pounds”, or around 30 euros, Mary said.
Economic growth in Lebanon has been battered by repeated political
deadlock in recent years, compounded by the eight-year war in neighbouring
Syria.
Successive cabinets have failed to implement desperately needed reforms to
redress a floundering economy heavily reliant on tourism and services.
The World Bank projected negative growth of 0.2 percent in Lebanon for
2019, but now warns the recession could be even worse.
It has urged that a new cabinet be swiftly formed, after the government
stepped down less than two weeks into the protests, to avoid more Lebanese
becoming poor.
Around a third of Lebanese live in poverty, and that figure could soon
rise to half, according to the World Bank.
Unemployment, already above 30 percent for young people, would also go up,
it said.
A group of Lebanese banks and private businesses also warned of bleak
times ahead.
“Thousands of companies are threatened with closure, and tens of thousands
of employees and workers risk losing their jobs,” they said.
The union of restaurant and bar owners has said 265 establishments have
closed already, and that figure could reach 465 by the end of the year.
– Begging for payment –
In the month before the protests, banks began restricting access to
dollars, sparking a greenback liquidity crisis.
Bilal Dandashli, who heads a small road safety equipment company he
founded in the 1990s, said he was struggling.
“We can no longer import supplies from abroad,” he said.
The Lebanese pound is pegged at around 1,500 pounds to the dollar, and
both are used interchangeably in everyday transactions.
But caps on dollar withdrawals have forced people to resort to
moneychangers, sending the unofficial exchange rate soaring to more than
2,200.
To make matters worse, Dandashli said customers were also not paying their
debts.
“It’s like begging for our own money,” he said.
“One person owes me $20,000, and today he turns up with a cheque for
$1,000. How are we supposed to continue like this?”
Dandashli says he fears for the future of his 10 employees, whom he has
continued to pay in full despite no work for two months.
“I could hang on for another few months or close. But it would break my
heart to see everything I’ve built up over the years collapse.”
In the latest sign of things getting worse, petrol station owners began an
open-ended strike on Thursday because of losses caused by the plunging pound
against the dollar.
Nicolas, the newly unemployed interior architect, is now applying for jobs
and considering a proposal to work in Kuwait.
“If travelling is the only option, I’ll have to take it,” she said through
tears.
“I’ll start over. Just not here, as here there is no hope.”