A call for increasing salaries in Syria

The BBC's correspondent in Damascus said on Tuesday that Syrian workers called on the occasion of the May Day for increasing their salaries and improving their living conditions, adding that this is the first time this call has been strongly demanded.

The correspondent added that the Syrian workers refused the instructions of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to Syria and stressed their firm stand in confrontation of the attempts to liquidate the public sector and cancel the economic and social role played by the state through privatization.

She added that the Syrian labor force's size is estimated at 1.5 million workers, of which some 800,000 are recruited for the public sector.