No Elections and Weak Defense of Members, Unions Under Guardianship ...Syria

Wasim al-Adawi | Amir Hakouk | Shaaban Chamieh

For decades, Syria’s unions have been under the control of political parties and the state, and have not developed into independent institutions capable of defending their members’ rights. Even so, they remain a pivotal part of life for millions of Syrians. In principle, these bodies are meant to pursue members’ interests in dealing with employers and, at times, the state itself, defend their rights, and help improve working conditions.

What has happened on the ground in Syria since early 2025, however, has disappointed some union members, particularly regarding the election of union councils and several issues tied to their rights. At the same time, the impact has been clear in other areas, such as the reinstatement of workers who were dismissed for participating in the Syrian revolution, returning them to their respective unions.

Union institutions have not risen to the level of representing professional demands or providing real protection for their members. Instead, the appointment of the heads and members of most union councils has weakened their performance, leaving them unable to address cases in which professionals face violations or harassment through effective advocacy.

The Constitutional Declaration, for its part, did not address the most important issue related to building unions: elections and genuine representation of union members.

Through this special file, Enab Baladi seeks to shed light on the role that unions, federations, and professional associations in Syria should play in protecting the rights of their members, as well as those who hold the status of a profession represented by a union without being members themselves.

The only union election recorded since the start of 2025, to date, took place within the General Federation of Trade Unions, but on a limited scale. It was confined to the federation’s General Council, which elected its Executive Office in early December 2025.

Fawaz al-Ahmad, head of the General Federation of Trade Unions, told Enab Baladi, “We reorganized our internal house by holding the General Council of the General Federation on time and electing a new Executive Office that included all components of the Syrian people.” He pointed to holding conferences for provincial professional federations and electing their executive offices, away from what he described as the “guardianship, nepotism, and ready-made names” that had prevailed before the fall of the regime.

Al-Ahmad added that the era of guardianship over workers’ unions, professional unions, and civil society organizations has ended, and that an era of real participation in building the country has begun, based on justice and equality.

Teachers protest outside the Tartus Directorate of Education (coastal western Syria) against compulsory transfer decisions issued by the Ministry of Education, 1 February 2026 (Enab Baladi).

Workers’ rights in the public and private sectors

Al-Ahmad said the federation, as part of its role in ensuring “social justice and equal opportunities,” took part in drafting the Civil Service Law, which is meant to replace the Basic Law for State Employees No. 50 of 2004, as well as amending the Private Sector Labor Law No. 17 of 2010.

According to the federation’s head, the drafting of the two laws focused on:

Improving working conditions for employees in both the public and private sectors

Strengthening the social security system

He added that the federation has:

Established a central medical administration

Rehabilitated and reopened the Homs Workers’ Hospital

Backed workers’ demands using legal and factual arguments, including the file on returning workers who had been placed on paid leave in public institutions to their jobs

Amended the health insurance law

Required private establishments to register workers with social security

Secured the distribution of part of profits to workers in profitable institutions through dialogue and communication with relevant bodies, while taking public interest requirements into account without relinquishing workers’ rights

Al-Ahmad declined to answer Enab Baladi’s questions about the legality of appointing the councils of unions and professional organizations and about the role of the General Federation of Trade Unions in supervising these councils, as the law is supposed to require under the Trade Union Organization Law No. 84 of 1968, as well as its role in protecting and defending union members’ rights within other professional unions.

Administrative law expert: Elections determine unions’ independence and neutrality

Mohammad al-Hussein, a specialist in administrative law who spent about 37 years teaching at Damascus University and the National Institute of Public Administration, questioned how the prime minister or his representative could end the work of a given union council through an “administrative decision.”

Al-Hussein said that “in civilized countries, elections are considered the main legal mechanism that governs the independence and neutrality of professional unions in the state. Without free and fair elections, unions cannot be recognized as neutral, independent, transparent, or democratic.”

The Trade Union Organization Law issued in the 1960s granted Syria’s prime minister the right to dissolve a union council and appoint another on a temporary basis instead of holding elections. However, it set conditions for exercising that right, namely the presence of flaws that undermine the union’s work, such as corruption or lack of objectivity. Al-Hussein said this appears to be what the interim government relied on in the dissolution and appointment process.

He said he could lean toward this view, but only on the condition that the appointment be for a very short period, followed by genuine union elections to choose new councils. He added that the government must also prove the existence of flaws in the former councils in order for the prime minister to be able to dissolve them.

“Appointment contradicts the Constitutional Declaration”

Dr. al-Hussein believes appointing union councils through an administrative decision contradicts Syria’s Constitutional Declaration and is not consistent with it, because the declaration states that the state guarantees the work of associations and unions. Therefore, the state should create the conditions for neutral professional unions to exist.

As for those harmed by arbitrary union decisions, they have the right to turn to the competent judiciary. The Syrian academic stressed that all decisions related to a union’s organizational affairs, including dissolution decisions issued by the prime minister, are considered “administrative decisions” that can be challenged before the State Council. Individual decisions, meanwhile, are ordinary decisions that fall under the regular judiciary.

 Teachers stage a sit-in outside the Directorate of Education in Latakia (coastal western Syria) against compulsory transfer decisions issued by the Ministry of Education targeting contract teachers, 5 February 2026 (Voice of Free Syria Teachers/Facebook)

In this file, Enab Baladi sheds light on several unions that represent a broad segment of Syrians, including the unions of lawyers, journalists, pharmacists, and teachers, as well as the General Federation of Trade Unions in Syria.

Syrian Journalists Union: Does it represent its members?

In an individual decision issued without explanation, the Syrian interim government announced in early 2025 the dissolution of the Syrian Journalists Union’s General Conference and the formation of a temporary office to run the union. The move sparked dissatisfaction among journalists and media workers in Syria. It also overshadowed the unprecedented space for media and freedom of expression that Syrian and foreign outlets gained after the fall of the regime.

In early 2025, a limited number of journalists were arrested or detained and later released, including Nour Suleiman, Akram Saleh, Joudi Haj Ali, Amer Matar, Eiad Charbaji, and Firas al-Barjas, who was detained by the Syrian Democratic Forces. These cases took place without the Syrian Journalists Union protecting them, defending them, or even issuing a statement about their detentions.

The Syrian Journalists Union is committed to facilitating the work of Arab and foreign journalists in carrying out their journalistic assignments inside Syria, as well as helping union member journalists carry out their assignments abroad, ensuring freedom of the press and enabling journalists to perform their mission, and safeguarding their rights.

Definition of the Syrian Journalists Union and its tasks (the union’s website)

“The union had no role”

Syrian writer and journalist Eiad Charbaji told Enab Baladi, “The Journalists Union had no role in my arrest case, not even in securing my release. No one from the union contacted me, even though I have been a member since 2005, when I was editor in chief of Shabablek magazine.”

He added that a union representative appeared on al-Ikhbariya to discuss his arrest and justified the detention under the pretext of legal procedures, rather than condemning the detention of a fellow journalist. Charbaji noted that the Constitutional Declaration affirmed Syria’s commitment to local and international covenants, including those related to freedom of opinion and expression, while he was detained under the Cybercrime Law, which the Assad regime used to arrest thousands of activists and critics.

Charbaji criticized the Syrian Journalists Union for failing to defend him and for not issuing any statement about his arrest. He also pointed to statements by major international journalism organizations, including the International Federation of Journalists, condemning his detention and urging authorities to stop detaining journalists.

He said the union, like any professional body, should represent its members, protect them, and defend their rights. He argued that the appointed Syrian Journalists Union does not do that, and instead functions as part of government institutions, even though union work should serve members’ interests and stand up to the state when necessary.

According to Charbaji, the union’s leadership was appointed through non professional mechanisms based on loyalty, and the union does not represent those working in journalism in Syria or enjoy legitimacy among them.

Charbaji said the union’s negative role in his case reflected a bureaucratic mindset aligned with the state, which was the opposing party in his case through the Damascus public prosecution, which accepted the complaint and ordered his detention.

Union response: Protecting journalists is a priority

Baraa Osman, secretary for external relations and communication at the Syrian Journalists Union, told Enab Baladi that the union operates as a trade union body aimed at protecting its members and defending their rights through legal channels and direct follow up with relevant authorities.

He said protection does not begin only after violations occur, but also through training that builds professional and security awareness and reduces risks.

Osman said no cases of prolonged arrest have been recorded on the basis of journalistic work since liberation. He acknowledged that temporary detentions did occur due to field circumstances, and said the union intervened immediately through official legal channels to secure releases without physical or moral harm, without naming specific journalists.

He added that the union does not link defending journalists to media appearances, but prioritizes safety and chooses the most appropriate approach for each case, whether through direct legal follow up or other measures that allow journalists to continue working safely.

As an example, Osman cited the detention of two journalists from Kurdish Channel 8 during the Ashrafiyat Sahnaya events because they were in a prohibited military area, saying they were released within two hours after communication with relevant authorities.

“Elections are impossible”

Osman said the Syrian Journalists Union inherited an unjust reality, as it had previously been tied to the ruling Baath Party under the ousted regime. This deprived thousands of journalists of membership rights because of their opposition positions.

The reality made it necessary to form a temporary administration to rebuild a comprehensive database and update the internal bylaws, given the impossibility of holding elections based on the previous journalists’ bloc, while journalists who had not previously been part of the union continue to be excluded.

Baraa Osman Secretary for External Relations and Communications at the Syrian Journalists Union

Osman stressed that elections require a sound legal environment that guarantees fair participation, and said preparations began from the outset to hold transparent elections once legal and organizational conditions are in place.

He added that the temporary executive office managed, in a short period, to build a solid database, though more work is still needed to include the largest possible number of Syrian journalists inside and outside the country.

The General Conference of the General Federation of Trade Unions in Syria, held at the federation’s building in Damascus, 30 November 2025 (General Federation).

After the fall of the former regime, the Syrian interim government dissolved the previous Lawyers Union council, as it did with other unions, and appointed an interim council to manage union affairs and oversee the organization of the central union and its branches.

Striking off lawyers after the regime’s fall

The central union removed the names of about 106 lawyers, including former officials in the central union and its provincial branches, from the rolls of licensed practice. The union said the decision was based on allegations that they had committed:

Struck off without the right to defense.

Beyond the cases of former branch council heads and members under the previous regime, most of whom were found to have drafted letters to security branches against colleagues who rose up against the regime, as revealed in documents obtained by Enab Baladi in a previous report, other cases also stand out, including that of lawyer Fadi Rahal.

Rahal said his name was removed from the Damascus branch’s rolls on December 8, 2025. The decision, he said, was published “individually” on the branch’s Facebook page, while the allegations were treated as established facts.

Rahal told Enab Baladi, “I was contacted by phone and informed, without any investigation, that my name had been removed from the rolls of practicing lawyers through an ‘automatic removal with immediate effect,’” the description used by the Damascus Lawyers Union branch. He described the decision as “a new innovation exported to settle personal scores rooted in old disputes by some branch council members against other lawyers.”

He said sudden removal decisions were being issued based on inadequate investigations, while lawyers were denied the constitutional right to defend themselves, including the right to rebut malicious complaints, as guaranteed under Syria’s constitutional declaration.

Rahal also questioned how lawyers could be struck off by branch councils operating under the title of “justice committees,” even though a transitional justice law has not yet been issued due to the incomplete formation of the legislative authority, the People’s Assembly. He noted that the constitutional declaration affirmed the continuity of previous laws until new ones are adopted.

Hopes pinned on the central union

Rahal said publishing removal decisions on social media, despite the confidentiality of investigations, constitutes an assault on the constitutional declaration and on the rights of lawyers and citizens. Issuing decisions in this manner, he added, is arbitrary.

“We hope the central union will abolish what is called ‘automatic removal with immediate effect,’ because it makes no sense to prevent a lawyer who has cases and clients from working immediately,” he said.

Central union: guarantees and rights before removal

On the guarantees and rights afforded to lawyers before any decision is made to remove them from branch practice rolls, Lawyers Union head Mohammad Ali al-Tawil told Enab Baladi that when a complaint or report is filed against a lawyer, the following steps are taken:

Al-Tawil also said the union received many complaints from citizens against lawyers. He alleged that some lawyers exploited families’ despair over detained relatives under the toppled regime, taking sums ranging from $30,000 to $50,000 in exchange for promises of release, only for families to later learn the detainees had been killed in prison during the years of the revolution.

Re-registering 3,199 lawyers struck off on “security” grounds

On the rights of lawyers who were dismissed, arrested, or forced into exile under the former regime, al-Tawil said 3,199 lawyers were struck off on “security” grounds, without clarity on how legally mandated procedures were bypassed. After the regime’s fall, he said, the union re-registered them and counted their seniority without additional fees.

Al-Tawil said it became clear that official letters used to be issued by the head of the National Security Bureau under the former regime, or by the dissolved Baath Party’s Regional Command official responsible for unions, and sent to the Lawyers Union head, who would then write to the relevant branch to strike the lawyer from the rolls. He said the union obtained a large number of such letters.

He added that any lawyer removed on security grounds only needs to notify the central union, after which their case is verified. He said those struck off on security grounds are known to branch unions, and that after 14 years of the revolution it has become clear “who was with the revolution and who was against it,” in his words.

Current Lawyers Union elected since 2023

Amid debate on social media and among lawyers over the legitimacy of the Lawyers Union council, al-Tawil said the “Free Lawyers Union” in Idlib, which was outside the former regime’s control before its fall, is an elected council rather than an appointed one.

He said elections were held in 2023 in the presence of the then head of the Salvation Government and the justice minister. A total of 700 members were elected, and the union council was selected from among them.

He cited Article 1 of the law regulating the profession in the Free Lawyers Union, which describes it as “a free professional union with its temporary headquarters in Idlib and its permanent headquarters in Damascus.”

“We in the central union were chosen in the central council through real union elections, unlike the sham elections that prevailed under the toppled regime,” al-Tawil said.

He added that official minutes of the elections exist and were broadcast online. He said the current council of the central Lawyers Union, as well as provincial branch councils, is considered “interim” under the Free Lawyers Union law until preparations are completed for nationwide union elections.

“Currently, the conditions are not suitable to start elections. A large number of Syrians are displaced and living in camps, union records are missing, some struck off lawyers have not yet been reinstated, and there are lawyers registered with the union who are not present. All of this needs verification.”

Mohammad Ali al-Tawil, head of Syria’s Lawyers Union

Pensions increased by 300%

At its extraordinary general conference in December 2025, the union approved a number of financial, organizational, and electoral decisions, including:

Syria’s Lawyers Union head Mohammad Ali al-Tawil, January 20, 2026 (Enab Baladi/Wassim al-Adawi)

“Mazen,” 41, an Arabic language teacher among contracted staff transferred to the Directorate of Education in Tartus under ministerial decisions, told Enab Baladi what he described as “the union’s failure to ensure teachers’ stability and lift the injustice imposed on them.”

He said the Ministry of Education approved their transfer in February 2025 under a decision by former minister Nazir al-Qadri, based on written correspondence between directorates confirming that the sending entity no longer needed them and that there was an actual need in the receiving entity.

The teacher said most of the transferred teachers filled permanent vacancies and provided real stability to the educational process in rural areas. However, the Tartus Directorate of Education returned teachers nearing retirement to classroom teaching after years of administrative assignments. The ministry then reassigned contracted teachers back to their original governorates “under the pretext of restructuring,” at the expense of younger staff appointed through the 2021 competitive exam.

He added that these decisions were made without considering their consequences, including the surplus that would emerge once older staff retire a few months later at the start of the next school year.

“Mazen” called on the Syrian Teachers’ Union to play a genuine union role in defending teachers’ interests and to press the Ministry of Education to reverse what he described as “arbitrary” decisions. He urged the union to push for the regularization of their appointments in the posts to which they were transferred, ensure optimal use of their experience, and halt measures that would strip public schools of staff under the pretext of a “phantom surplus,” especially since the transfers were based on ministerial decisions responding to genuine needs and formal correspondence between directorates.

He also said that allowing early retirement for veteran teachers with 28 years of service would be sufficient to resolve the problems of newly contracted teachers while preserving the younger expertise the country needs at this critical stage.

Integration of contracted teachers still in progress

Responding to these criticisms, the head of the Syrian Teachers’ Union, Mohammad Mustafa, told Enab Baladi that the contracting file does not concern a single category. It includes teachers arbitrarily dismissed during the years of the revolution, with varying legal statuses, as well as teachers stabilized through the 2021 exam.

According to Mustafa, these groups currently share the same reality: temporary contracting as a transitional solution pending full integration into public sector employment, a process the relevant ministries have been working on for months.

“The complexity here is not only administrative, but legal, rights related, and documentary,” Mustafa said, referring to 14 years of exceptional conditions that produced cases of arbitrary dismissal, court referrals, security and political classifications, de facto salary deprivation without formal dismissal decisions, and widespread documentation gaps.

He added that with the start of the school year and an urgent need in schools, a temporary solution was required to prevent disruption to the educational process and secure income for teachers. Temporary contracting was therefore adopted until integration is completed.

Mustafa stressed that the union’s position is clear: contracting is not a permanent solution, job stability is a non negotiable right, and the integration file is being followed up directly with the Ministry of Education. Several official meetings have been held to accelerate the process without legal haste that could create future complications.

Have steps been taken to redress teachers’ grievances?

The head of the union said that since the executive office assumed its duties, it has focused on measurable achievements rather than general promises, defending teachers’ cases and following up on their demands with relevant ministries and government bodies.

On livelihood related issues, he cited two “central” achievements during the first six months:

Mustafa said these decisions were announced after studying their financial impact to ensure sustainability and avoid placing uncalculated burdens on the treasury. He described them as tangible gains for teachers.

Teachers’ salaries: Still pending

On continued government promises to improve salaries without implementation, Mustafa said salary improvement is a right that cannot be bargained away. He added that the union has reaffirmed this position in multiple statements and public interventions.

He noted that the government itself has repeatedly declared its intention to raise salaries, through both the finance minister and the education minister. However, he said it would not be realistic to ignore the broader national context.

He explained that Syria is currently in a highly sensitive phase, with pressing priorities including consolidating security, preserving territorial unity, bringing all areas under a unified state framework, and recovering national resources.

According to Mustafa, these priorities have led the government to reorder implementation timelines without abandoning its promises or denying teachers’ entitlement to the qualitative raise referenced by President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

From a tour by the Pharmacists’ Union at several pharmacies, 20 January 2026 (Pharmacists’ Union of Syria).

A different approach to activating the union role

Mustafa said the union is fully aware of the gap left by the largely symbolic role unions played under the former regime. A different approach is therefore being adopted, based on:

He said the union is not seeking confrontation with the state, but it is not silent either. He described its role as that of a “critical partner” that applies pressure where necessary and supports the state when the national interest requires it.

Mohammad Mustafa Head of the Syrian Teachers’ Union

What about the union’s regulations?

Mustafa described what he called a clear reform track, which includes:

Union services

In the health sector, the Syrian Teachers’ Union is working to repair and develop its union clinics, Mustafa said. This includes consultations, laboratory tests, diagnostic imaging, and union pharmacies.

He added that the union is also pursuing “strategic” projects to establish union hospitals in Aleppo, Homs, Damascus, and Deir Ezzor, alongside rehabilitating pharmacies and securing medicines and medical supplies at discounted prices suitable for teachers. This comes in parallel with efforts to reactivate and launch union services in eastern areas, including Deir Ezzor, Raqqa, al-Hasakah, and the eastern countryside of Aleppo governorate.

Pharmacists criticize

A number of Syrian pharmacists complained about the declining role of the Pharmacists’ Union in providing services and effectively representing its members. They expressed dissatisfaction with the increase in the union’s annual subscription fee without clarity on how these fees are spent, as well as the growing tax burden.

Pharmacist Mohammad al-Tawil questioned why the annual fee had increased, asking, “What services does the union provide to pharmacists, and where do these subscriptions go?”

He added that pharmacists feel the relationship between the union and its members lacks transparency, leading many to question the value of joining.

For her part, pharmacist Farah al-Khoury said the union has not taken practical steps to improve pharmacists’ conditions. She noted that some decisions have not been revised despite the hardship they cause, such as mandatory rural service and higher subscription fees in return for limited or non existent services.

She added, “Even the union card has not provided tangible benefits for pharmacists, and the health insurance the union offers is insufficient and does not cover basic medical services, unlike in some other unions. This is a clear shortcoming.”

Farah also pointed to the tax framework imposed by the Ministry of Finance on pharmacists, treating them as if they were commercial companies rather than medical service providers with fixed, regulated profit margins. At the same time, she said, the union did not move to change the tax situation or communicate effectively with the relevant ministry.

Pharmacists’ Union responds

The head of the Pharmacists’ Union in Syria, Ibrahim al-Ismail, told Enab Baladi that the union is doing everything it can to address the problems and difficulties pharmacists face.

However, he said the union is not a “magic wand” capable of solving all issues on its own. Improving the profession’s conditions requires coordination between the union, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Higher Education, and other relevant bodies, because each decision is tied to one of them.

Regarding accusations that the union does not protect its members because it was appointed rather than elected, and therefore serves as a tool to justify government decisions, al-Ismail said current circumstances are not conducive to elections due to the large number of pharmacists outside Syria and other organizational factors.

He also said talk about past elections is misleading, noting that most members were previously influenced by political direction. He added that five out of seven members used to be appointed by the Baath Party, while the two independents were elected under guidance issued to party members.

On the controversy over raising the annual subscription fee to 600,000 to 700,000 Syrian pounds, he said the union’s share does not exceed 15 percent, while the rest goes back to pharmacists through several funds, including the retirement fund, the death benefit fund, and the health solidarity fund.

He added that the union communicated with the Ministry of Finance, and it was decided that the tax would apply starting January 1, 2026, based on the pharmacist’s declared profit, with the possibility of exempting part of that value.

No Elections and Weak Defense of Members, Unions Under Guardianship Enab Baladi.

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