Damascus-Sana
The Council of the General Federation of Trade Unions discussed on the second day of its fourteenth session today the economic and service report in the presence of Prime Minister Eng.
The demands of the council members, headed by Jamal Al-Qadri, president of the General Federation of Trade Unions, focused on service, development, living and labor issues, including speeding up the amendment of the basic law for workers in the state, including some field work by the law of hard and dangerous occupations, raising the value of food for workers, addressing labor shortages in some institutions, controlling prices and tightening penalties. Rightly against violators and monopolists.
Responding to the members' demands, the Prime Minister said that the government continues to support basic materials and that the Syrian Trade Establishment has been allowed to import basic materials directly without intermediaries and display them through the Corporation galleries at cost, stressing that prices of materials in these lounges will not be raised regardless of exchange rate fluctuations. The basic requirements of the country “oil derivatives, wheat and medicines of specific diseases” are secured without prejudice to the foreign exchange reserves in the Central Bank or borrowing from any country.
Engineer Khamis asked the trade union committees in all ministries and institutions to open niches and additional outlets belonging to Syria for trade to secure the workers' need of basic materials.
Engineer Khamis pointed to the conversion of contracts of 8 thousand day laborers to annual contracts during the past year and is working to settle the situation of 7 thousand others in order to help stabilize the working class, pointing out that a study is underway to raise the value of the diet to benefit 121,500 workers an estimated amount of 6.5 billion pounds annually .
The President of the General Federation of Trade Unions explained that the law of fixing workers is underway, stressing the need to speed up the amendment of the Basic Law of State Workers until the completion of legislative instruments related to the civil service and the return of all laboratories and destroyed public sector facilities to work and production.
The ministers of social affairs, labor, internal trade, oil, public works, housing and industry answered the members' questions regarding the work of their ministries.
The council was attended by a member of the Central Command of the Baath Arab Socialist Party Shaaban Azouz.
