Palestinian union denounces cost of living decision

Palestine’s Governmental Employees’ Union has denounced a Palestinian Authority decision on the cost of living allowance, saying that the government has “declared war on the law”. The PA cabinet has said that it will only pay the cost of living allowance to its employees for October, November and December this year.

According to Bassam Zakarneh, the union leader, the government’s decision violates Article 51 of the Civil Service Law because the allowance is supposed to be paid for the whole year starting from January 1st 2013. The union, he insisted, has been cooperative and has taken into consideration the economic crisis, but agreed to the postponement of the payments to October 2013 and not that they will only be paid for the last three months of the year. “The allowance,” he pointed out, “is not negotiable and must be paid.”

The union has written to PA Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah rejecting the move and demanding that the full allowance be paid. “This will also send a message to the PA that we reject attempts to establish alternative representative bodies for government employees,” said Zakarneh.