Wage Scale Discussions Witness Limited Breakthrough

The dispute on the wage scale for the public sector has made some breakthrough after talks between the finance minister and al-Mustaqbal bloc's leader but differences between the parliamentary blocs remained on the funding.

An Nahar newspaper said on Wednesday that al-Mustaqbal bloc chief MP Fouad Saniora held talks with the representatives of the March 14 alliance to discuss the pay raise.

The meeting came after a telephone conversation he held with Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil on Tuesday to resolve the pay hike crisis after parliament failed in several sessions to approve it.

Change and Reform bloc MP Ibrahim Kanaan also held talks with the representatives of different blocs to strike a deal on giving the public sector employees their long-awaited rights.

The blocs have expressed their support for the employees' rights but have warned that Lebanon's ailing economy would suffer if the total funding was not reduced from LL2.8 trillion ($1.9 billion) to LL1.8 trillion ($1.2 billion).

They have also disagreed on how to raise taxes to fund the scale over fears of inflation and its affect on the poor.

But the Syndicate Coordination Committee, a coalition of private and public school teachers and public sector employees, has vowed not to give up its demand for a 121 percent wage hike.

SCC official Hanna Gharib said on Wednesday during a sit-in held near the Civil Service Council in Beirut that the SCC will not accept a raise based on a hike in Value Added Tax.

Further talks are expected to be held on Wednesday between the officials involved in the issue.

Speaker Nabih Berri and Saniora could meet on the sidelines of the parliamentary session set to elect a new president.

Parliamentary sources also said that a similar meeting could be held between members of the Change and Reform bloc and al-Mustaqbal MPs at parliament.

A new parliamentary session to discuss the wage scale is set for Thursday.

But despite the intensive talks aimed at resolving the crisis, parliament will likely fail to approve the pay raise.

Berri said he hasn't so far received clear answers on the scale. “Let us all head to parliament and discuss the scale and its clauses,” his visitors quoted him as saying.

The March 14 alliance's Christian MPs and al-Mustaqbal have been boycotting the parliamentary sessions aimed at approving the hike to protest the failure to elect a new president.

G.K.

H.K.