All out on 24 January!

Truck drivers have staged an indefinate strike along the international road in the Akkar Abda, northern Lebanon. The drivers are unhappy about regulations over the weight of their loads at the Syrian and Jordanian borders. They claim that they are not treated as well as foreign drivers and want the government to push for "reciprocity".

The strike comes as trade unions have called a day of action over rising prices on Thursday 24 January.

The strike has been called by the confederation of road transport and agricultural unions. The unions are demanding the government "open a dialogue to address the difficult living situation."

Updates:
• The Federation of Trade Unions and employees in the Bekaa have backed the strike call

•The nurses and midwives union will take part in a one-hour stopage at 10am on Thursday morning. They are demanding an end to "humiliation and starvation. "

• The president of the doctors assocition, Dr. Ghassan Jaafar, declared that all physicians will join the strike in defence of "a living wage, freedom and agaisnt the unjust policy of the ruling authority."

• The National Federation of Trade Unions and Workers in Lebanon has backed calls for the strike.

• The national meeting of the agricultural bodies in Akkar held a press conference in support of the strike. Mayor Tlberh Abdul Hamid Saqr, head of the tobacco farmers in the north, appealed to transport workers, green grocers, supermarkets, cooperatives to join the strike in solidarity. Farmers should not harvest their their crops on 23 Jaunary, he said. He also called on the owners of companies and agricultural fertilizers and medicines to close in solidarity.

"I hope workers from the port of Tripoli will not load or unload grains, meat, milk and powdered milk and others," he added.

• The union construction workers and timber sectors are coming out.

• Maritime Transport Union announced its support for the strike