Wage Crisis Seems Not to Be Abating as Shura Council to Issue its Stance
The crisis on the wage hike was in a standstill on Tuesday amid speculation about the decision of the Shura Council that is expected to be issued ahead of a cabinet session scheduled to be held at Baabda palace on Wednesday.
Ministerial sources told An Nahar newspaper that if the decision of the Shura Council was in favor of the cabinet’s latest approval of the salary boost, then the problem would exacerbate amid the rejection of the Economic Committees of the wage increase which they said would lead to layoffs and closures of businesses.
The cabinet decision calls for raising the minimum wage to LL868,000 from the current LL500,000 – a sum that includes a LL236,000 transportation allowance.
Workers earning less than LL1.5 million receive an 18 percent increase while salaries between LL1.5 million and LL2.5 million receive an additional 10 percent on the second salary bracket. Wages above LL2.5 million will not earn an additional increase.
The raise is effective as of December 1, 2011.
But the Economic Committees, that are made up of major business leaders and owners of big firms, have warned top officials that the implementation of the decision would lead to more “unemployment and social chaos.”
The only solution is to reach a consensual deal between the government, the Committees and the General Labor Confederation, the sources told An Nahar.
But by Tuesday, it was not clear if the Shura Council would approve the government decision. Several ministers told As Safir daily that the Council would give the green light to the wage hike while others stressed that it would reject it for failing to abide by a last-minute deal reached by the Economic Committees and the GLC.
The two sides had agreed to set the minimum wage at LL 675,000 without the transportation allowance. But the deal was dealt a blow when Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas made his own proposal of the minimum salary of LL868,000, which was approved by the cabinet.
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