In early April, about 400 foreign employees of RAMCO, a Lebanese construction, facility, and waste management company, went on strike to demand payment in US dollars and better working conditions. The strike, believed to be the first of its kind among foreign laborers in Lebanon, could set an example for other groups of workers demanding social and economic rights. Although RAMCO’s foreign workers have contracts in US dollars, workers say that since November, the company had been paying them in Lebanese lira at the now-defunct official exchange rate of 1,500 Lebanese lira to the dollar. Between October 2019 and May this year, the lira has lost more than 60 percent of its value on the parallel exchange market, meaning that their families back home are now unable to afford basic necessities. Walid Bou Saad, RAMCO’s director, confirmed to Human Rights Watch (HRW) that the company was paying workers in Lebanese
