GLC to Meet on Friday, Threatens to Stage a Strike

The General Labor Confederation’s executive council will meet on Friday to decide on the measures that will be taken to overturn the cabinet’s approval of a wage boost.

“The cabinet’s decision was more unfair than the previous one,” head of the GLC Ghassan Ghosn told As Safir newspaper about a decision reached by the government in mid-October that was turned down by the Shura Council for being unfair.

He noted that the executive council will announce its position on Friday “after the (cabinet’s) decision added another social burden on workers.”

The cabinet approved on Wednesday a wage hike that suggests a minimum wage increase by LL100,000 to LL600,000, salaries under LL1 million by 30% up to a LL200,000 increase, and salaries above LL1 million by a 20% increase up to LL275,000.

“We will head to announcing a strike and protests,” Ghosn warned.

He said in remarks published in the daily that the strike will most probably be held on Monday or Tuesday, but the position of the GLC suggests that a rift emerged to the surface with the Syndicate Coordination Committee as the latter called for a strike next Thursday to protest against the government’s decision.

However, An Nahar newspaper reported on Friday that there are ongoing contacts with the Syndicate Coordination Committee and the GLC to convince them to approve the cabinet’s new wage hike.

The daily said that the government will propose additional benefits to the decision like subsidizing diesel and gasoline prices.