The Daily Star - New labor law unlikely to solve refugees' woes - March 30, 2011

Concerns remain over legislation which still bars Palestinians from over 30 professions
By Annie Slemrod
Daily Star staff
Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of articles closely examining the labor rights of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon in light of the new law approved by the Lebanese Labor Ministry. The first part appeared Tuesday.

BEIRUT: “We heard about this law,” says Hassan al-Sheikh Hassan. “They tell us that a new labor law for Palestinians has been issued, but it doesn’t allow Palestinians to work in all jobs. They gave us a little … but they [still] make it difficult for us to work.”

Sheikh Hassan, a father of six, was born in Lebanon 60 years ago to a Palestinian family from Jaffa. Seated amid his wife, daughter and grandchildren in his apartment in Tariq al-Jdideh, he discusses the challenges of working as a Palestinian refugee in Lebanon.

Now unemployed, Sheikh Hassan used to sell and install air-conditioners. “Ever since I started working,” he says, “I used to apply to companies. They used to tell me go get a work permit. When I went to the Ministry of Labor, they used to tell me you’re not eligible, being a Palestinian.”

He does not know anyone who has applied, or plans to apply, for a permit under a new law that is supposed to make it easier for Palestinian refugees to attain work permits. The law was passed over six months ago by Parliament and approved by caretaker Labor Minister Boutros Harb in February. The Daily Star reported Tuesday that it has not been fully implemented.

A report released in December 2010 by the American University of Beirut estimated that only 37 percent of working age Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are employed, including full-  and part-time employment.

Sheikh Hassan’s experiences reflect doubts among some activists in the Palestinian community that the new legislation will actually make a practical difference to the lives of Palestinian refugees.

One concern is that even if permits are easier to obtain, those employers who do hire Palestinians will still prefer to do so without a permit because this allows them to pay lower wages.

Nawal al-Ali is the coordinator of the Right to Work campaign at the Palestinian nongovernmental organization Association Najdeh. She says “[The law] hasn’t changed anything up until now, and I don’t think it will change. [This is because most Palestinians] are working unofficially … [With the new law] employers will say the same thing. Because you are a Palestinian, you don’t need a work permit.”

Sheikh Hassan is of the same mind. “Those who work, they work without permits … There are decent people [who] sympathize with you and give you work. But they don’t treat you like they treat the Lebanese. [Palestinians receive] no medical services, no insurance, no job security – just low pay.”

Ziad Sayegh, an expert in Palestinian affairs in Lebanon, thinks the law could change the number of Palestinians who work without permits. “The game now is on the ground of the Palestinian refugees,” he says. “They should come to legalize their work and have a work permit … They have incentives: the work permit is free of charge. Secondly, this work permit is for three years not for one year.”

Sayegh adds that “Recognizing [Palestinians’] work [with permits] may push Lebanese [employers] …  [who in the past] in many fields needed to [hire] foreign workers, to now ask for Palestinian [workers].”