8.2.2. Protect labor rights and promote safe and secure working environments for all workers.
Lebanese University promotes decent work and economic growth for the sake of enhancing all staff, the faculty, and students' performance. In this sense, the Lebanese University as a public institution abides by the Lebanese Labor Law and public decrees which define wages according to functions.
The Lebanese Labour Law is applicable to all workers and employers except domestic workers, agricultural workers, enterprises limited to family members and public servants. The DLIPS supervises the implementation of all laws, regulations, decrees and rules pertaining to the terms and conditions of employment, and the protection of workers in the workplace, including the provisions of international labour Conventions ratified. Labour inspectors ensure the supervision of compliance with regulations regarding conditions of employment and protection of workers including occupational safety and health. In addition, they monitor if trade unions and occupational associations comply with relevant laws, monitor compliance with protection and safety measures in family enterprises and the work of private employment agencies. Under their functions they also investigate collective labour disputes. They are also involved in conciliation and the control of work permits for foreign workers.
As the public educational institution in Lebanon, the Lebanese University adheres to the principles, regulations and laws that protect workers, and considers that attention must be paid to Lebanese youth who face a great challenge due to the lack of job opportunities and high unemployment rates, which explains their desire to emigrate.
The Lebanese University also supports efforts aimed at bridging the gender gap in the labor market, and focuses on the following key points in its strategy of dealing with the issue of decent work and economic growth:
Working to restore respect for the social contract that includes human rights in access to education;
Providing access to decent work, health and social care, old-age security, housing, transportation and clean environment;
Providing comprehensive social protection from birth to old age by establishing a social protection basis that provides a basic level of protection for every person in need, especially in the areas of health and unemployment;
Establishing a comprehensive guarantee for workers, regardless of their contracting arrangements or employment status, and basic workers' rights and adequate living wages;
Ensuring collective representation of workers and employers through equal social dialogue as a public interest (unions and associations).
The employees and professors of the Lebanese University are considered public sector employees who are subject to special Law No. 46/2017 (public salary scale law) regarding their wages and Law No. 206/2012 regarding the wages for Lebanese University professors
Since Decree No. 7426 of January 25, 2012 decided to set the official minimum wage for employees and workers subject to the Labor Law, the cost of living rate and how to apply it, and since the Parliamentary Commission for Administration and Justice recommended in its session of 11/11/2011 to the government “to draft a bill that includes new chains that take into account all the increases that occurred with respect to the inflation rate, in order to preserve equality between the different chains and the privacy of the workstations, in order to end the one-time increases.
Given that the public administration suffers from a large vacancy in its workforce, and the salaries received by employees cannot constitute, in their current state, an incentive to attract skills, and given that the historical vision of the evolution of salaries in the The public sector clearly shows the imbalance that it has suffered and the most recent large gap between the wages of the different workers in the sector. This has negatively affected the work of public administrations. And since many of the laws that imposed exceptional increases or reconsidered the salary chains of some wires, the gap between the salaries of public sector workers increased, either between wires or between workers in public administrations, and since this matter paid those who were not included in the new chains or ranks.
Country baselines under the ILO Declaration Annual Review are based on the following elements to the extent they are available: information provided by the Government under the Declaration Annual Review, observations by employers’ and workers’ organizations, case studies prepared under the auspices of the country and the ILO, and observations/recommendations by the ILO Declaration Expert-Advisers and by the ILO Governing Body.
Lebanese workers have the right to unionize and to strike. Labor laws require that the number of strike participants is declared in advance and that 5 percent of union members be responsible for their comrades’ orderly conduct during the strike. There are over 160 unions in Lebanon, and 22 of them are grouped in the General Confederation of Lebanese Workers. Unions may engage in collective-bargaining processes with the support of 60 percent of the membership. Because of high unemployment and the minor importance of the heavy industry to the Lebanese economy, organized labor does not have a large presence in the country. The Ministry of Labor is required to approve the establishment of new unions and control union elections. Labor laws do not currently offer sufficient protection for workers who belong to unions.
The problems of workers are not restricted to countries with authoritarian political environments. Societies that otherwise observe a wide array of democratic freedoms—those that tolerate robust debate in the media, are sensitive to the rights of minorities, and have adopted a series of policies to achieve gender equality—may still take steps to limit the power of trade unions as agents of collective bargaining and sources of independent political power.
On August 2, 2019, the budget discussions did not pass from its inception until its approval and publication in the Official Gazette without attending the Lebanese University in it as a "national issue", especially in the words of some deputies who asked before the General Authority to promote formal education (school and university) and invest in this knowledge sector.
In isolation from the state’s contribution to the Lebanese University’s budget from among the 2019 budget, which was approved by 83 votes and 17 votes against, and a abstaining vote, what most Lebanese aspire to is is to protect the first educational edifice that is exposed to campaigns of a well-known organization, which is something that lawmakers ’speeches warned under Parliament Dome.
While Representative Stephen Douaihy preserved the budget items affecting the military and the Lebanese University, Representative Elias Hanaksh called for investing in the knowledge sector instead of committing crimes against the Lebanese University, its professors and students. For his part, MP Bakr Al-Hujairi considered that the Lebanese University is the backbone and cultural pillar of Lebanon, and we need a more open, vital and ambitious budget to develop it. In turn, MP Paula Yaacoubian considered that the Lebanese University should be a "red line" because it is the public space that brings together Lebanese and Lebanese students, professors, and workers in an atmosphere of intellectual dialogue, and she warned that any political interference in the university strikes equality between professors among them and students It also leads to hitting the affiliation to the University of the homeland and thus belonging to the homeland. Representative Enaya Ezzeddine hoped that the government will reconsider the Lebanese University budget because it is part of comprehensive and sustainable development, equal opportunities for education, work, and planning for the future on scientific grounds and on investing in the energies of youth.
In conclusion, the approval of the 2019 budget, which was published in the Official Gazette on July 31, 2019, opened the door for betting on the 2020 budget for the fairness of the Lebanese University and the development of a comprehensive plan to support and develop it as the first intellectual dialogue space and the "minds" plant that has the responsibility of building the country and representing it abroad.
The Lebanese University recognizes trade unions and workers' rights, including the rights of female employees holding a foreign nationality, through cooperation and support for the Association of Tenured Professors at the Lebanese University established under Resolution No. 119/1975 and the University Staff Association.
Establishment of the Association of Full-Time Professors at the Lebanese University
The General Director of the Interior, on the basis of Decree No. 7288 of March 1, 1974, on the basis of the Associations Law, on the basis of a request submitted by the founders of the association called "Association of Full-Time Teachers of the Lebanese University ", with Headquartered in Beirut (at the Lebanese University), based on the president's state approval The knowledge and information are given in accordance with the provisions of article 6 of the Associations Law, provided that the association adheres to its duties under the provisions of the aforementioned law and the law published under Decree No. 10830 of October 9, 1962. Association name: Lebanese University Full-time Professors Association Your center: Beirut, Lebanese University.
Objective : support the Lebanese University in striving to raise its standards and strengthen its pioneering role in education and scientific research in Lebanon.
Defend the interest of the Lebanese University professor in all aspects and elevate his economic and moral position.
All members of the teaching staff and research professors who join the university staff and full-time contractors in their unit and branches have the right to join the Association.
In its educational system, the Lebanese University considers the cooperation of foreign professors, and three faculties (Faculty of Technology, CNAM, Filiere Francophone) at the Lebanese University have joint administration with French universities.
The basic values of the Lebanese University, as a public institution, include equality for all, regardless of race, religion, disability, or gender.
The Lebanese University is committed to the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and applies its provisions relating to non-discrimination in the workplace (including discrimination based on religion, sex, gender and age).
