MEA Employee Disciplined Over Remark
An official said Tuesday that an employee of Lebanon's national airline MEA was fired after a passenger complained in a social media campaign that the worker humiliated travelers from the Philippines at the Beirut airport and told them over the loudspeaker, "Filipino people, stop talking."
The incident is part of what human rights groups say is widespread discrimination and abuse of foreign workers in Lebanon. More than 200,000 women from Asia and Africa work as maids in the country of 4 million people, said Nadim Houry, a researcher in Lebanon for the New York-based group Human Rights Watch.
In recent years, the foreign maids' work conditions — long hours, little pay and alleged physical abuse — have come under increasing scrutiny in Lebanon. Some private beaches in the country have barred foreign workers, and not all have complied with a Tourism Ministry directive earlier this year to halt such practices, Houry said.
He lauded the social media campaign protesting Saturday's airport incident, calling it a sign of change.
"The latest incident shows that more and more people in Lebanon are angry and tired of this racism that exists," Houry said, while urging the government to do more to protect foreign workers.
"What we have been missing are concrete new policies, a new enforcement mechanism to put an end to it," he said. "It is no longer the time for nice words."
Abed Shaheen, a Lebanese businessman based in Dubai, witnessed Saturday's incident while waiting to board a flight at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport. The flight was delayed and passengers, including about two dozen domestic workers from Asia, were talking among themselves, he said.
At one point, a woman staffing the counter at the gate took a loudspeaker and announced, "Filipino people, stop talking," Shaheen said. He said the woman's male colleague corrected her, telling her the travelers were from Nepal, not the Philippines. The woman proceeded to admonish the group twice more, giggling as she did so.
Shaheen said he was outraged and walked up to the counter to complain. He said he was brushed off by the two members of the ground staff and was told they would do as they please.
He later launched a protest campaign on Facebook and Twitter and sent an email to MEAG, an MEA subsidiary that handles ground services. Shaheen said he received a call from a senior official in MEAG and was promised the company would investigate.
On Tuesday, MEA said on its Facebook page that it investigated Saturday's incident, which it portrayed it as an isolated case of "misbehavior" by an MEAG passenger service agent.
The airline said severe disciplinary action has been taken against an employee, but did not elaborate.
An MEA official said the woman was fired, and that disciplinary action was being considered against her male colleague. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case with the media.
10 October 2012, 13:25
05
Thank you Mr. Shaheen. Sincere, determined action against racism in Lebanon is needed by anyone who cares to stop it - at every opportunity. I just encountered racist abuse today against a member of my staff. Racism is entrenched and widespread and it will take organisations working against racism as much as determination by all of us to start to counter the 'culture' of racism in Lebanon.
10 October 2012, 13:49
03
Way 2 go. This behavior is totally unacceptable, you treat people the way you like to be treated regardless of faith, skin color, or ethnicity everyone should be treated with respect. This is very unprofessional from the employee. She's probably a snob, good riddance
10 October 2012, 14:15
02
Most lebanese are snobs. Why the hell all these women need maids. I lived in the States and Europe. I never encountered such a luxury. But in Lebanon, people who has low paying jobs and barely any money, they have maids. And for the rich working in the gulf, while the maid is busy cleaning, the wives are busy with their boyfriends.
10 October 2012, 15:15
02
A considerable number of Lebanese women are too busy at the hairdresser, shopping to acquire latest fashion and spend a lot of hours at the spa getting their nails done and hair removed. These women are too much concerned over what the neighbor has or is doing.
These maids work hard and cannot afford to go to McDonalds, Starbucks, Cinnabon and Gemayze, so their bodies are slim and they look fit and are generally happy.
So these Lebanese women are getting jealous of the maids and so treat them voilently both physically and verbally.
10 October 2012, 15:47
00
Not only this Employee should be Disciplined; the whole government should be disciplined by the poor lebanese people. Who time and time put these crooks in office to steal all your assets... It is such a shame that the lebanese are living in a dream that everything in their country is OK; however look around you, everybody is like a robot and acts like they live in a LALA land; with so many showoffs while many families can't even afford a piece of bread... It is time for a revolution and get rid of all the rats who has been feeding for the past on the Cheese that the world and Lebanese immigrants have been providing to Lebanon to get out of the misery; Time and Time the cheese never gets to the people becuase they are hyptonized by the elite who live in their castles and ferrari's; I wonder how they have all this money so fast; maybe Lebanon is a great industrial nation;;; HAHAHA....
Wake Up Lebanese
10 October 2012, 15:48
10
Consider the source... MEA... a worthless and despicable service airline... I would never fly them...
10 October 2012, 15:48
10
Consider the source... MEA... a worthless and despicable service airline... I would never fly them...
10 October 2012, 16:10
03
Discrimination is a crime and should be punished. The same way myself and many others stopped going to Edde Sands or any resort that discriminates against foreign domestic helpers, we were ready to boycott MEA until its management respond to questions and explain what actions were taken to punish the culprit, educate staff and insure such incidents don’t happen again. I agree most Lebanese properly treat their domestic helpers. However, those few rotten apples out there need to be exposed and punished. First, the government should enact a bill to protect the rights and dignity of foreign residents; and along with the media and schools they should join efforts at educating people, providing a warning period, and then publicly punishing anyone abusing foreigners basic rights regardless whom they are. MEA should go further and institute a training program for its employees so this never happens again as MEA in a way is Lebanon's ambassador abroad.
10 October 2012, 17:13
00
Well this is no surprise at all. many times a lot of people encountered such racist behaviors at Beirut airport. Most of the employees there(duty free, or counter people, even some hostesses) think themselves they are the best, they humiliate travelers by having racist comments, or making fun of people. I have heard myself while i was traveling back, at the duty free, 2 cashiers laughing at a Russian girl, saying oh do you work here? do you dance? the girl was shocked ,I was so much angry that I raised my voice and said, do you know that Russians are better than you too? do you know that Russians are more educated than you? they travel around the world, doesn't mean they are all dancers!! I was obliged to say this and I said it, look at you too, you are both cashiers, you are making fun of a girl who might be much more educated than you, it doesn't mean she is a prostitute!! . let's not carry on, khalina sektine, not to say the truth about the girls working at the airport.
10 October 2012, 17:44
01
i just wonder how they do in europe without house workers!... seems lebanese are lazy people not even able to do the chores! oh! it must be degrading i guess...so let third world people do the job!
let us not forget that sri lanka and lebanese economy are quite similar! so if lebanese think they are better they d better think twice....
10 October 2012, 19:33
00
i think naharnet should stop using the word maid and replace it by housekeepers or house helpers!!!! or just because in lebanese you can not find other than word khadmeh !!! shame on you....we need 10000000 to be civilized
10 October 2012, 19:42
00
i do not understand why we have only 2 restaurants in beirut airport..and we do not have mcdonald , burger king ...more coffee shops or pizza space like all airport ....we should raise a campaign to have something better...not only abella taking over ...All civilized airports in the world have different brands inside!!! Ahhh i forgot and no phonesssss gosh what a shitty country
10 October 2012, 21:19
00
Whats up with attacking the fact that people have maids? The problem here is racism. The fact that they are working in Lebanon is good for them and for their economy....
10 October 2012, 21:41
00
it doesn t prevent the fact that lebanese are snob people who can t do the daily task out of laziness and pride and treat their maids as the new slaves of the 21st century thinking they are the best....
10 October 2012, 21:42
01
all this racism has its root there ulpianus... arrogance and vanity
11 October 2012, 00:33
00
Thank you Mr Shaheen, great job! I signed your petition and wrote to MEA. I am relieved to see that this horrible woman was fired. I had recently watched a television program about the Philippines and a great deal of their increased GDP is due to money sent back home from foreign workers. The show said namely from the Middle-East. A great number of Lebanese people treat their housekeepers fairly and decently. All the Lebanese women that I know have jobs and greatly benefit from hired help. I have read many comments trashing Lebanese women who have housekeepers. The sad part is that there are horrible people out there who seriously abuse their housekeepers. A lot of these foreign workers work extremely long hours often past midnight. They have to get up for the kids. They are underpaid, not fed properly, and denied basic rights. I could go on and on... I hope this is the start of something we can all be proud of.
11 October 2012, 08:31
00
It is funny because these people are cleaning our homes and our country and raising your children so imagine if they weren't here what would have happened.
11 October 2012, 09:06
00
Her name is gabby(j). Now I say this: gabby people, stop blogging!
