Poor wages push more workers to resign in Syria’s Latakia
DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) – The number of applied resignations from the public sector has reached 900 since early 2023, most pushed by poor wages, head of the Workers’ Union in Latakia Governorate, on the Syrian coast, revealed on Monday.
In a statement to the pro-government al-Watan newspaper, Moneim Othman, head of the Workers’ Union in Latakia, said that most of the applied resignations are for workers, who do hard and tough jobs, or those who incur big transportation expenses due to far distances between their work places and residencies.
Workers, who resign, secure other jobs either on lands or shops or taxies or other jobs that at least save the transportation expenses, according to Othman.
He added that workers have the right to resign, but the Union is not the party to accept or reject the resignation, but these for which they work, noting that many resignations have been rejected due to their impacts on workflow.
There are about 85,000 workers in both public and private sectors in Latakia, according to the official, who stressed that the issue of increasing resignations should be solved through improving living conditions of the workers.
He noted that the Workers’ Union always calls for increasing the monthly wages by about ten folds in order for the workers to be able to secure their basics amid the dire economic conditions witnessed in the country.
He said, “We have been calling for an increase in wages for the poor workers, who cannot do their duties or offer for costs of clothes for their children.”
He confirmed that the increase in wages should be adequate in order to enable workers to secure all their families’ needs thus they can dedicate themselves full time to their work in a way that serves the work without being busy thinking about how to secure their basics.
For over 12 year, the war in Syria has been persisting without a due end, affecting living of Syrians who are left to struggle to secure their basics of food amid dwindling international support.
On June 13, the World Food Program (WFP) announced that it would cut food and cash-for-food assistance for nearly half of the 5.5 million people it supports in Syria from July due to the fast-depleting funds.
Since 2015, food insecurity levels in Syria have increased by over 50 percent from 8 to 12.1 million people in 2022 – out of a population of over 20 million, according the WFP.
Syria’s conflict-rooted food insecurity has in recent years been exacerbated by global events such as the economic collapse of Lebanon, the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and February’s earthquakes.
As the Syrian pound falls to record lows, the first quarter of this year saw the price of a standard food basket of essentials rise by 10 percent. This is almost four times the average wage of a schoolteacher.