Libya's Teachers Launch Nationwide Strike Over Pay as Other Unions Threaten to Join

Teachers across Libya have escalated their long-running dispute over salaries and working conditions into a nationwide open-ended strike, keeping students out of classrooms and raising the prospect of broader labour unrest as other unions warn they may follow suit.

The protests originally began on September 13, the day the new school year was supposed to begin. Instead of returning to their classrooms, teachers staged sit-ins outside schools and government buildings in the capital, Tripoli. Two weeks into the campaign, the country's teachers union announced it was upgrading the action to a nationwide strike, a move that has shuttered public schools from the western region to the east.

By Sunday, the pressure had widened beyond the education sector. Several Libyan unions representing other industries publicly threatened to join the strike unless the government opened talks to address a worsening cost of living crisis. That warning has turned what began as a pay dispute among educators into a potential general strike with significant political ramifications. Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, who heads the internationally recognised Government of National Unity (GNU) in Tripoli, convened a meeting with cabinet members on Sunday to discuss how to respond to the escalating crisis.

The strike is unfolding across both sides of Libya's fractured political landscape: the western region administered by the GNU and the eastern region controlled by renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army. In April, the rival legislative bodies of the two sides agreed on a unified budget for the first time in more than a decade, a rare moment of cooperation. Now, the teachers' strike presents a fresh test of whether those parallel authorities can coordinate a response to nationwide labour discontent.

At the heart of the dispute are demands that teachers say have gone unanswered for years. Educators report declining real salaries, unpaid arrears, inadequate benefits, and deteriorating conditions in schools. They are calling for an immediate halt to what they describe as the erosion of workers' incomes, pointing to broader economic decline and rising living costs.

Principal Muftah Khalifa told Al Jazeera Arabic that teachers were protesting the government's failure to respond to repeated demands for higher and unified wages, health insurance, and protection both on and off school premises. Teachers who spoke to Reuters described a litany of problems in their schools, from a lack of computer labs to desks so dilapidated they cannot be used. In many cases, staff and parents have been forced to pay for equipment themselves.

A central demand is a unified pay system that would address the large disparity in wages between workers in different sectors, a long-standing source of resentment among public employees. That demand has now been taken up by other unions, broadening the coalition behind the strike. Libya's unions said on Sunday that any such system must account for changes in the cost of living and the fluctuating exchange rate between the Libyan dinar and the US dollar. Retirees have also joined the call, urging the implementation of previous agreements on pensioners' benefits.

Union leaders further insisted that no "arbitrary or punitive" measures be taken against workers, retirees, or union leaders for their activities. They also appealed to Libya's attorney general to act swiftly against any corruption involving public spending, tying their economic grievances to wider concerns about how state funds are managed.

As it stands, the legal framework governing teachers' pay is already decades in the making. According to an education budget brief prepared by Libya's National Council for Economic and Social Development together with UNICEF, 91 percent of the education budget is consumed by salaries, with the remainder covering school costs such as equipment. The education sector employed 560,000 people in 2024, including roughly 270,000 basic and secondary school teachers — a striking figure for a country of about 7.5 million people. That ratio underscores both the political weight of the teachers' union and the fiscal challenge facing any government attempting to raise pay.

In 2018, the GNU passed Law No 4 to regulate salaries, allowances, and benefits for education workers. The law also provides for health and social care, insurance against illness and occupational hazards, and protection for teachers and their families. In September 2021, the government ordered pay rises in line with the law, but the move failed to resolve the issue of salary arrears, which remain a persistent source of anger.

The dispute escalated sharply late last week when union chiefs and teachers' representatives from western Libya withdrew from a meeting convened by the Ministry of Education. Ashraf Abu Rawi, head of the Tripoli teachers union, told Al Jazeera that unions felt authorities had not taken their demands seriously. The teachers union has since warned the Ministry of Education against attempting to reopen schools, saying such a move would only lead to further escalation.

The government has responded cautiously, saying the teachers' demands are legitimate but that the rights of students must also be considered. Dbeibah's Sunday meeting with Finance Minister Rashid Boughofa and other senior officials focused on a proposal for a unified pay system covering all sectors and state institutions. However, raising teachers' pay would require a government decision, parliamentary approval, and banking procedures — a multi-step process that is unlikely to deliver quick relief to striking workers.

Parents find themselves caught between sympathy for the teachers and concern for their children's education. Osama Abboud, a parent of two pupils, said the teachers' demands were legitimate and that parents backed them. At the same time, he urged teachers to think of their students' future and to continue working while pursuing their demands, reflecting the difficult balance many Libyan families are now being forced to strike. With classrooms empty, many children in cities such as Benghazi have been left to play football in the streets during what should be school hours, a visible reminder of the standoff's human cost.

The broader context is one of entrenched instability. Libya has struggled with economic and political turmoil since the 2011 uprising that ended Muammar Gaddafi's rule. Rival administrations, competing armed forces, and a fragmented economy have left public institutions chronically underfunded and vulnerable to corruption. The teachers' strike, now backed by other unions and retirees, threatens to become a focal point for wider public frustration over the cost of living — and a serious challenge for leaders on both sides of the country's political divide.