I'm on strike. Or at least that's what my administration has told me. My notions of labor laws and unions have been challenged with this bit of news, but I'm learning a whole new way here in Lebanon.
Here's what happened. Eighteen months ago the administrator in charge of the country's private teacher's retirement funds was gunned down in his office. The government has yet to name a replacement and as a result retirees' monthly benefits have not been doled out since. Active teachers who currently contribute nearly seven percent of their income are fearful that they will never see that money. Rumors abound that corrupt officials have already absconded with the funds.
In response, Lebanese teachers called for a two-day strike. Since my school, ACS, employs 152 Lebanese teachers and only 29 foreign hires (like me) our administration had no choice but to cancel classes. We were told via email that we were not expected to attend work.
Naturally, being ignorant of Lebanese Labor Laws and having only my North American experience with labor disputes to go on, I had lots of questions.
I don't belong to the organization that is striking, but have been told by my employer not to show up. Am I on strike? Is it a lock out? What if I go in and work in my classroom? Does that make me a scab?
In some backward thinking countries people are shot, stabbed and killed by the government's militia for striking. It happened in Pittsburgh in 1877 when the railroad workers went out on strike. Troops were called in. And who can forget Reagan's response to an air-traffic controller strike in the 1980's. I believe his exact words were, "You're fired!" Luckily, I discovered that Lebanon's government has a much more civilized approach to labor stoppages.
According to a Lebanese colleague, people go on strike here almost as often as they call in sick. It's so common, he says, that they have completely lost their effectiveness. Often they are completely ignored and sometimes no action is even taken by those on strike. No picket lines, no demonstrations, no letter writing campaign to their representative.
Nothing. Many of my colleagues said they were going to spend the two days working in their classrooms getting caught up on grading and planning. Or go skiing.
I was baffled by this, but they insisted they wouldn't be working because they aren't TEACHING. And what about announcing a two-day strike. Isn't the point of a strike to stay out until the conflict is resolved? Where is the government's motivation to settle if they know you are going back to work on Friday? The response I got was that this was a first step. An open strike might be called later.
So, I'm on strike. Funny, I don't feel like I'm on strike. I feel like it's a Saturday. I went out to breakfast, read the paper, did the crossword and ran some errands. I hope this sends a strong message to those bureaucrats in parliament. And tomorrow I plan to sleep in and then do laundry. And if that doesn't work then I'll return to work as usual the day after. I'm serious!