A draft resolution amending civil service and retirement laws has raised the ire of Palestinian public sector employees over the added financial burden it would force them to endure. Bassam Zakarneh, president of the Public Sector Employees Union, told local Radio 4 on Aug. 12 that the Palestinian Authority (PA) Cabinet had submitted a proposal to President Mahmoud Abbas on Aug. 4 to amend current laws to release 70,000 employees as part of an early retirement scheme. The changes stipulate mandatory early retirement for those employees who have served 15 years or more and are over 50 years of age. Employees of the Ministries of Education and Health would be exempt under the amendment. The measure apparently falls within the framework of planned austerity policies.
Zakarneh said the plan was designed to decrease current expenditures by reducing the number of PA employees in Gaza and the West Bank from 150,000 to 80,000 and had been prepared in cooperation with the World Bank. It also includes the elimination of some ministries as well as forced retirements without the appointment of replacement employees for three years. Retired employees would be paid between 50% and 56% of their monthly wage. New appointment mechanisms were to be examined, especially for the Ministries of Health and Education.
