In year, 10,000 Lebanese replaced with 'foreigners': labor minister
Written by Malek

Daily Star.com.lb BEIRUT: Around 10,000 Lebanese nationals have been forced from their jobs over the past year to be replaced with "foreigners," Labor Minister Sejaan Azzi said Saturday, using a euphemism for Syrian refugees. In an interview with LBCI, Azzi blamed the replacement of Lebanese workers by a less expensive workforce for the increasing unemployment rates.

“There is a case of firing and replacing Lebanese workers in the country that is big and scary. The main reason [for their firing] is not because of the economic situation, but because the Lebanese employees are being replaced by foreigners,” Azzi said. He said that some companies were creating “situations” for the employees to force them to resign from their jobs.

He warned that his ministry will be referring companies that are replacing Lebanese workers with foreigners to the judiciary. This comes one day after the ministry issued a statement warning of a crackdown against unlicensed companies and cautioning company bosses against replacing Lebanese workers with Syrians.

The statement named multiple unlicensed private sector companies, the majority of which were based in the Bekaa Valley area of Baalbek-Hermel and in Akkar in the north.

The ministry warned that it would work with the Internal Security Forces to find companies that are firing Lebanese employees to hire Syrians, who often work for lower salaries.