The Public Administration Employees Association called on the government to “approve 10 liters of gasoline daily for each employee for every working day,” stating in a statement: “At a time when the price of a gasoline canister approaches 32 dollars, the government approved a variable transportation allowance for the private sector, while neglecting public administration workers, proving once again that it lacks the most basic standards of justice and reform. It is a government that only responds under street pressure. Does it want to push employees to the streets, burn tires, and close roads?”

It pointed out that it is “a government that does not care about the negative image these actions may create about the employee and about a public administration that is the backbone of the state.” It asked: “How can a government impose on the private sector to provide a transportation allowance linked to the price of a gasoline canister, while it refrains from implementing what it obliges others to do? And where is it from the fixed principle that the state is a fair employer?”

It added: “Every day an employee goes to work, he incurs a loss from his daily sustenance. Is this the logic of a state? Knowing that providing employees with a daily transportation allowance equivalent to 10 liters of gasoline would not cost the state treasury more than 2500 billion Lebanese pounds annually, while the state budget exceeds 614 trillion. In fact, the reserve item for contracts includes sufficient allocations to cover this increase. Therefore, the association reaffirms its previous demands for improving salaries and social benefits, and calls on the government to expedite the approval of a transportation allowance equivalent to 10 liters of gasoline daily for each working day. Failure to meet this demand or approving an unfair number of liters will lead to irregular work in public administrations.”

In light of the government's disregard for the demands, the association announced “the continuation of the closure every Friday until the purchasing power of salaries returns to what it was before the crisis. The general closure of public administrations and municipalities will take place on Thursday, October 8,” emphasizing that it is “in the process of preparing for a central sit-in in Beirut during the upcoming week, with the location and timing to be determined later.”

It concluded by stressing that “failure to respond quickly to the above demands within this month will push the association to take escalatory steps that may include a complete closure in public administrations until the demands are met.”