Local public service workers in the trenches of war zones

In 2024, the world is shaken by multiple, converging crises. Lingering and escalating conflict, climate change and extreme weather events, pandemics, biodiversity loss, cost of living, the global housing crisis and forms of inequalities are halting – if not reversing – decades of social and economic progress, jeopardising the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Together, these crises are rolling back progress made towards a more socially just and democratic world, anchored in solidarity, cooperation, multilateralism, the upholding of fundamental rights and equitable access to vital public services for all, largely provided by public services and their workers. 

With over 110 active armed conflicts worldwide in 2024, war is sadly standing out among many other crises. From the Israel-Gaza-Lebanon crisis to Ukraine, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Ethiopia, and Libya, local public service workers are often the only protectors of civilians, delivering  critical services and bringing relief to victims and inhabitants of war-torn territories.

Local and regional government (LRG) workers deliver services amidst war

In Ukraine, firefighters and public emergency service workers—many volunteers—respond to bombings, risking their lives to rescue the wounded, recover bodies, and restore essential infrastructure, often with limited resources and scant protection. Many are victims of “double shelling” tactics, aimed at weakening local emergency services by hitting the same target twice and kill the rescue staff and medics who run to the place after the first strike.  

PSI’s Ukrainian affiliate, Atomprofsilka, represents nuclear power workers at Zaporizhzhia, Europe’s largest nuclear plant, which has operated under Russian control since March 2022. Almost 10,000 workers were requisitioned by Russian forces and now operate under unbearable pressure and conditions as they continue to prioritize nuclear safety. Hospital and health workers are equally targeted: last July, the Kyiv Medical Trade Union, part of PSI affiliate the Ukraine Health Workers Union, lost frontline medical staff members serving in the National Children's Specialized Hospital Okhmatdyt - Ukraine's largest children's health facility, as it was bombed in Kyiv.

As the war rages on, the care needs among Ukraine's population—including the elderly, children, wounded, disabled, displaced, and traumatized civilians and soldiers—remain immense, placing intense physical, mental, and material strain on care and social workers. Despite these overwhelming challenges, municipal institutions known as “territorial centers for social service” continue to provide essential social protection. On International Care Day 2024, the European Public Service Union (EPSU) held an online public dialogue event with the Social Care Workers of Ukraine union to shed light on the impact of war on the conditions of social care workers.

In Gaza, over 500 health professionals have been killed since 7 October 2023, as a result of the repeated targeting of hospitals and medical facilities, a practice in breach of international law. Beyond health facilities, all local public services were damaged: over 392 education infrastructures, 132 water wells and 24 hospitals were struck.  

Local public utilities and infrastructure are by now damaged or severely compromised, and the local civilian population pays the price. The entire energy grid remains offline due to fuel import restrictions and the severing of external lines has brought desalination and water treatment plants to a halt, while wastewater are now openly flowing in the streets.

Water, sanitation and waste services have also been destroyed, resulting into deaths by dehydration and contamination. The damage of the sewage networks has caused wastewater to spread in the streets, mixing with solid and medical waste, resulting in foul odours and the spread of disease. Most of the local waste dumps and incinerators are located in Eastern Gaza, classified as red zone and are therefore inaccessible. As a result solid waste and medical waste have piled up in the streets, mixing up with debris.

This crisis has further deteriorated an already dire public health situation, intensifying the vulnerabilities of women and children, particularly in displacement camps and shelters where over two million people endure inhumane conditions. The global trade union movement continues to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and last May PSI met with Palestinian affiliates during a Council of Global Union mission to Palestine.

In Lebanon where the attack began on October 8, the violence is rapidly escalating, making it extremely dangerous for local public workers – already under severe strain due to the economic crises and the consequences of the 2020 devastating blast of Beirut’s port – to provide basic services to the local population. According to Lebanese authorities, as of 5 October, the escalating conflict has forced the closure of at least 5 hospitals and 96 primary health care centres and clinics. This has critically impacted the availability of essential medical services, including those for emergency care, chronic diseases, and maternal and child health​.

West Bank councils shelter and redeploy displaced Gaza municipal workers

Municipalities in the West Bank are making amazing efforts to accommodate the displaced, including municipal workers of Gaza, many of whom have been redeployed and continue to deliver services in their new locations. In Nablus, four shelters were setup by the municipality to accommodate 740 people – including displaced municipal workers from other war-hit areas and their families – providing beds, food, drink, clothes and underwear, medicines, and medical care.

Municipal workers across all the cities of the West Bank are enduring severe hardship due to the widespread destruction of infrastructure, buildings and roads. Many lot their lives, including in Nablus, Jenin, and Hebron. Despite daunting danger and difficulties, municipal workers continue to serve local communities relentlessly, braving constant threats of injury and death to deliver essential services. In recognition of this extraordinary dedication, West Bank municipalities have applied the same working conditions and benefits of permanent workers – including overtime pay – to displaced Gaza municipal workers, who would typically serve as temporary staff.

Public services for all are the foundation of a peaceful, prosperous and just world

It is local public service workers who bring lifesaving services where crises hit and bring shelter, build resilience, and fulfil the basic needs of local communities at extraordinarily difficult times. They do so putting their lives on the line, and helping communities survive and rebuild.  They often with limited tools, inadequate protective equipment, unpaid salaries, poor working conditions and scant or no access to social protection and labour rights.

Local authorities – the most immediate, visible and accessible form of government – remain critical in war zones: yet their resources are often strained and their powers retrenched at a time when they are most needed. Some cannot afford to staff and pay vital frontline services to assist their populations hit by war. 

This is why on UN World Cities Day 2024 PSI wants to honour and draw the world’s attention to the sacrifice and dedication of local public service workers serving in conflict zones. We call on the UN, on States, on mayors, LRGs and allied organisations to join in calling for an immediate halt to senseless conflict and to (re)build, instead, a world based on peace, fairness, progress, solidarity, public service justice, and on human and workers’ rights.

This message is also at the core of PSI’s Programme of Action adopted at the 2023 Congress titled “PSI Programme of Action 2023-2028: People Over Profit in a World of Multiple Crises”, which presents a viable, alternative vision and path for the world that rooted in a peaceful, equitable and sustainable world, based in public service equity for all.