Joint Committees Finish 'General Debate' on Wage Scale without Referring It, SCC Vows Escalation
The joint parliamentary committees on Friday failed to finalize the discussion of the new wage scale despite a “positive atmosphere” in their meeting as the Syndicate Coordination Committee warned that it was headed for an escalation.
“The atmosphere was positive and we finalized the report and started discussions over the legal clauses in the new wage scale,” MP Ibrahim Kanaan, head of the parliamentary finance committee, told reporters after the meeting.
“Discussions over laws consisted of 200 articles cannot end in two hours,” he said, explaining the delay in referring the draft laws to parliament.
“We reached consensus over the principles of the new wage scale and some things are still pending such as the issue of administration, the six extraordinary levels and the issue of the military and the teachers,” Kanaan noted.
He emphasized that the MPs have the right to ask about “the issue of funding.”
“There was a discussion over the issue of resources and we must provide answers,” Kanaan said.
The Syndicate Coordination Committee vowed on Friday to stage strikes and take to the streets if the new wage scale wasn't referred to parliament for approval.
“We give officials a one-week grace period to refer the new salary scale to the national assembly or we will return back to the streets and stage strikes,” Nehme Mahfoud, who heads the private schools teachers association, said in comments to Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5).
Kanaan revealed that the committees “improved the draft law that was referred by the previous cabinet because it does not secure fairness and equality among all sectors.”
“We finished the general discussions today and Speaker (Nabih) Berri is to decide on the next session. In the coming days, I hope we will consider the time we have and announce that the issue has been exhaustively mulled, but we must do some legitimate amendments regarding the numbers,” the lawmaker added.
“Continuous meetings will be held throughout the weekend with the involved officials in order to hold a session and clarify the issue of the new wage scale,” he said.
“I did not sense any reservations from any bloc over the new wage scale,” Kanaan noted.
He also expressed sympathy with “those who have been waiting for years for the new wage scale to be approved” but pointed out that the issue “cannot end in one session and some things needs clarification.”
Later on Friday, Gharib warned anew, saying the SCC is inclined to escalate its protests and will meet on Saturday to decide on the necessary steps.
Former Prime Minister Najib Miqati's cabinet endorsed in 2012 a new salary scale for public employees ending a long dispute that had prompted the SCC, a coalition of private and public school teachers and public sector employees, to hold several sit-ins and strikes.
President Michel Suleiman signed the decree mid-June 2013 and it was referred to the joint parliamentary committee for further scrutiny.
Suleiman's signature took time after advisers found accounting mistakes in the scale and returned the draft-law to ex-Finance Minister Mohammed al-Safadi to amend it.
The wage increase will be retroactive from July 1, 2012.
The state treasury will have more than $1.2 billion to cover as there are over 180,000 public sector employees including military personnel.
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