Miqati: Syndicate Coordination Committee Strike Will Not Achieve Anything

Prime Minister Najib Miqati criticized on Saturday the Syndicate Coordination Committee's decision to hold a strike on Wednesday over their opposition to the government's new wage scale proposal.

He said: “The strike will not achieve anything.”

The premier made his remarks while meeting with the head of the General Maronite Council Wadih al-Khazen.

“We are keen on providing the sources needed to fund the new wage scale,” he quoted Miqati as saying.

The talks also focused on the premier's recent visit to New York where he attended the United Nations General Assembly.

The Syndicate Coordination Committee on Tuesday called for a general strike and demonstrations to be staged on October 10 over what it called “the government's procrastination” and “the onslaught of the Economic Committees,” stressing that it will not stand idly by as the government delays referring the new wage scale to parliament.

On September 6, the cabinet approved the new wage scale with a hike in taxes on real estate and banking transactions, without reaching a final agreement on funding sources.

The Economic Committees, a grouping of the country's businessmen and owners of major firms, on September 6 said they would reject any decision taken by cabinet on the new wage scale, warning that the government's plan would "inflict major losses on the public and private sectors."

The SCC said “a central demonstration will head from the UNESCO Square to the Grand Serail on Wednesday, October 10, at 11:00 a.m.”