Economic Committees Reiterate Rejection of Recent Wage Hike
Lebanon’s Economic Committees, a grouping of the country’s businessmen and owners of major firms, on Thursday reiterated their rejection of the government’s recent decision to increase wages, describing the step as “illegal” and urging business owners to abstain from implementing the resolution.
The committees threatened to “resort to the Shoura Council to challenge the resolution should the State insist on implementing it,” in a closing statement issued following a meeting at the Beirut International Exhibition and Leisure Center (BIEL).
They stressed, however, their willingness to cooperate “with all parties, particularly the syndicates and the labor unions, given that everyone is seeking to protect national economy and improve the workers’ living conditions.”
The resolution’s “negative repercussions have already started to emerge,” the committees decried.
A cabinet decision to increase wages has led to a new crisis in Lebanon after it angered some labor unions for not meeting their expectations and drew strong criticism from business leaders over their fears that the government’s move would shatter the Lebanese economy.
On October 12 the cabinet decided to increase the minimum wage to LL700,000 from LL500,000. It also raised by LL200,000 the wages of workers earning less than LL1 million and by LL300,000 the wage of those earning between LL1 million and LL1.8 million.
In a session it held on October 13, the cabinet decided to go ahead with its decision and sign a decree compelling the public and private sectors to implement the controversial resolution.
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