The Resurgence of the Labor Movement?

As Lebanon comes face-to-face with a multi-faceted collapse brought about by the deliberate mismanagement and corruption of the ruling political establishment, as well as by a pandemic that temporarily halted much economic activity and which has spread at an alarming pace in recent months, voices calling for ‘alternatives’, already prevalent since 17 October 2019, have become louder. These alternatives range from calls for the formation of a salvation government led by competent and honest individuals, to drastic changes in the decades-long neoliberal financial and economic policies that have been the norm in Lebanon since the end of the Civil War. While such well-intentioned calls have somewhat subsided amidst the political uncertainties following the devastating blast in Beirut on August 4 and the subsequent resignation of the government, it is worth bearing in mind that any calls for drastic changes cannot be realized without the active participation of the labor force in an organized manner. Since the late 1990s, Lebanon’s labor movement has been emaciated and rendered toothless, as it has been entirely coopted by the political establishment. Since the outbreak of the uprising, several efforts at establishing alternative trade unions have taken place. While such efforts are promising and are to be commended and encouraged, a unified and powerful cross-sectarian movement effectively managing to challenge entrenched political and economic powers remains far off in the horizon.

A non-existent labor movement?

The pre-war period was characterized by an active and cross-sectarian labor movement managing to garner significant gains by exerting heavy pressure on the country’s political establishment and business elites. However, the same cannot be said of the post-war labor movement. While the first half of the 1990s did witness significant state-labor contentions and contestations, by 1997,¹ the General Confederation of Workers in Lebanon (GCWL) was truly emaciated: the political establishment not only withheld state allocations to the GCWL, but also managed to infiltrate it from within by authorizing the establishment of ‘shell’ unions with little real adherents, who then came to dominate the GCWL. Rather than challenging entrenched networks of political and economic power in order to defend the rights of the downtrodden, the coopted labor movement² in Lebanon then sat idly by in the first two decades of the 21^st century as the political establishment passed neoliberal economic and financial policies that disproportionately affected the poor and working classes.

A reemerging labor movement?

It is no surprise that the announcement of the imposition of an extremely unpopular and regressive taxation on an ostensibly free mobile communication application – the infamous WhatsApp Tax – was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Decades of increasing taxes amidst crumbling public infrastructure, lackluster public services and a steady degradation of living standards, culminated in the eruption of a nation-wide uprising. Amidst this uprising, the labor movement was notoriously, yet unsurprisingly, absent.

Amidst this desultory state of the labor movement, coupled with an uprising rapidly gaining steam, emerged several new alternative unions.³ To name but a few: An alternative syndicate⁴ for media workers was formed; workers in non-governmental organizations⁵ as well as university professors⁶ unaffiliated with the political establishment set up collectives to defend their rights; workers in the fields of art and culture⁷ came together to form a collective; a body grouping several alternative unions, including the aforementioned ones, was established, the Lebanese Association of Professionals,⁸ with the goal of reigniting an active labor movement in the country capable of fighting for its rights and challenging entrenched powers.

There is no denying that these new unions are crucial for achieving any kind of positive and systemic socioeconomic and political changes in Lebanon. Such unions are already proving to be far more capable of defending the rights of those they represent than the officially-recognized unions – when an esteemed journalist was jumped on by thugs on the payroll of the political and financial establishment in early February 2020, a protest⁹ called on by the alternative media workers’ union to denounce this heinous act brought hundreds of demonstrators to the streets and ensured that the assault became a topic discussed on the national media.

While these developments are promising, the situation is not all rosy. Amidst the collapsing economic and financial situation, the rapid inflation, the increasing poverty and unemployment rates, coupled with the August 4 blast in Beirut that has significantly worsened the collapse, workers throughout the country are squeezed. Regardless of whether they are working in the formal or informal economy, or whether they are part of a union, alternative or otherwise, workers are coping with extreme stress and anxiety. Many are focused less on organizing, and more on ensuring their daily bread. In addition, establishing unions requires committing significant time and efforts, making sacrifices, as well as the will to work collectively and set egos and personal differences aside. Amidst a multi-faceted collapse and a pandemic which necessitates taking serious precautions and limiting social gatherings, doing so is by no means an easy task. Nonetheless, if these new alternative unions are the fruits of the uprising and manage to grow in both size and influence, then they would be the very start of the reemergence of the labor movement in Lebanon – a non-sectarian, independent and powerful movement that effectively challenges entrenched political and economic interests.

1 https://al-akhbar.com/Community/269858

2 https://thepublicsource.org/did-someone-say-workers

3 https://thepublicsource.org/did-someone-say-workers-2

4 https://nakababadila.com/?fbclid=IwAR1qmxyS3FWIM_8zPK6sQTzJbfR3fpsadIS9mwx9x53hfwNs4ixU0YUx1Kw

5 https://www.facebook.com/ngoworkersleb/

6 https://www.facebook.com/IndependentProfessors/

7 https://www.facebook.com/WorkersArtCulture/

8 https://www.facebook.com/LebProAssociation/