SCC to Stage Sit-In in Support of Salam's Cabinet

Head of the private schools teachers association Nehme Mahfoud said on Thursday that the Syndicate Coordination Committee will stage a protest to defend Prime Minister Tammam Salam's cabinet.

“The SCC will carry out a demonstration to defend Salam's government and to prevent vacuum at the executive authority,” Mahfoud said in comments published in al-Joumhouria newspaper.

He pointed out that the situation in the country will deteriorate furthermore if the Salam resigned.

Mahfoud is considered one of the most prominent leaders of the SCC, a coalition of private and public school teachers and public sector employees, which has been struggling to rectify wages in Lebanon.

On Wednesday the premier held separate talks with Georges Hajj, head of the Union of Bank Employees, a delegation from the SCC and a delegation from the General Labor Confederation.

Head of the GLC Ghassan Ghosn expressed hope after talks with Salam that “the cabinet would be granted the confidence vote at the parliament.”

The political arch-foes are at loggerheads over the cabinet's ministerial policy statement.

The constitutional deadline for the cabinet to draft it's policy statement to refer it to the parliament for confidence vote ends on March 17 as PM Salam is warning that the row over the resistance article is threatening to topple the cabinet.

On Tuesday, the ministerial committee's 10th session failed to resolve the ongoing dispute over the resistance clause.

The committee referred the issue to the cabinet, which will convene on Thursday to take the appropriate stance on the matter, said the premiership.