Under the title Restaurants Fight to Feed Employees !, Reda Sawaya wrote in Al-Akhbar: Corona has hit, or nearly hit, the last nail in the coffin of the tourism sector, which has been suffering since 2011, including restaurants that they employ tens of thousands. Many of these have lost their jobs. Those who stay in business receive half of their dues for months, and today they threaten to catch up with those who preceded them, as “steadfastness” for longer seems like a difficult possibility. Note that revenue for the entire tourism sector decreased by $ 10 billion in 2010 to $ 6 billion in 2018.
Statistics from the Union of Restaurant, Cafe, Amusement and Pastry Owners show the magnitude of the disaster. In just 5 months (September 2019 – February 2020), 785 food and beverage establishments were closed, 240 of them closed last January. And the number of employees spent on 25 thousand of 60 thousand of the content, in addition to them 25 thousand temporary workers.
Union President Tony Ramy explains that “95% of the restaurant industry closed due to Corona, and only 5% are still working through the delivery service. But they too suffer from fear of the virus and the decreased purchasing power of the Lebanese. ” And he affirms that the sector “has been operating for months without profit so that we can support and pay as many wages as possible, since we buy raw materials from suppliers according to the exchange rate of the dollar in the market, and we adopt the official exchange rate with customers. “
“Quitting any employee in the industry is not easy to work with precision in this field. Employees are our production partners and the primary link to the pioneers, and our investment in every great employee lasts for years,” says Al-Rami. It cannot continue without the support of the State. Since October 17, we have been paying half a salary despite the massive drop in sales, which has approached 75%. But what if it continues like this for another month or two? Without any help. “
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