The General Confederation of Lebanese Workers on Thursday launched a three-day nationwide strike to protest against the government's planned austerity measures in the 2019 budget.

According to the National News Agency, work was suspended at the Beirut Port as well as grain silos, Electricite du Liban, National Social Security Fund, Water Authorities of Beirut, Mount Lebanon, Bekaa and North Lebanon, state-owned Regie tobacco company, state-run telecommunications company Ogero, and public transport workers.

Employees at Sidon's public hospital carried on their open strike to demand that they receive their overdue salaries and to denounce the lack of basic materials in the facility.

The government started on Tuesday discussing the 2019 draft budget; one that has been shrouded by speculations amid the top officials' repeated warnings of "hard decisions" that should be taken in a bid to rescue the country's ailing economy.

One of the austere measures that has been rumored lately is the reduction of the salaries of civil servants; a plan that infuriated the public sector employees and gave rise to street tensions.