Al-Hasakah – Majd al-Salem
Public employees of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) are still awaiting the implementation of the salary increase decision, which was published in April.
The executive council of AANES discussed at the April meeting the question of increasing the wages and salaries of workers and how to improve the reality of life in the light of economic conditions “on the based on available capacity”.
However, the decision to increase has not been made so far, despite the fact that two months have passed since the promises of administration officials, who agreed to disburse SYP 100,000 only and for a single times, delivered with the salaries of last April, a few days before the holiday of Eid al-Fitr.
Hussein Shaheen, 35, an AANES employee, said Enab Baladi that the announcement of the wage increase last April was good news for the employees, hoping that this increase would help them cover their expenses and reduce the burden of the price hike.
However, the lack of approval for the raise left the employees disappointed, as debts piled up on Shaheen, who hoped to pay them off after receiving the monthly raise.
“False promises
Ola al-Nasser, 28, who teaches at one of the AANES schools, said Enab Baladi that Deir Ezzor teachers had gone on strike, demanding an increase in wages and salaries before the end of the current school year.
Al-Nasser said the strike was suspended based on promises from a number of officials that their demands would be met at the time, but teachers are still waiting for an increase until today.
The last salary increase approved by the autonomous administration was in April 2021, at an average of 30% of the salary value, and the exchange rate of the US dollar against the Syrian pound at that time was around 3200 SYP, while the exchange rate broke above the 4000 SYP mark today.
Resignations rejected
An employee of the Internal Security Forces (Asayish), who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Enab Baladi that difficult economic conditions and frequent price hikes prompted him to submit his resignation in an attempt to find a job in the private sector whose salaries are better than those of workers in “governmental” institutions.
But his resignation was rejected, said the employee.
When he inquired about the reasons for this refusal, one of the officials told him that the reason was due to the large number of resignation requests presented in most of the AANES institutions, especially the military, pointing out that ” if we open the door to resignations, no one will stay,” he concluded.
