Mahfoud Calls on Private Schools Teachers to Widely Join Wednesday's Protest

Head of the private school teachers association Nehme Mahfoud called on private schools teachers to widely participate in a demonstration that will be staged on Wednesday to protest the cabinet's delay in referring the new wages scale for public employees to the parliament.

“The statements issued by private schools, calling on teachers not to join the protest, are merely for business,” Nehme said in a statement on Tuesday.

He pointed out that it's normal for schools to open their doors to students, but “teachers will commit to the decision taken by their syndicate.”

“Any school owner that will threaten the teachers will be sued by the syndicate according to the law and will be defamed in media,” Nehme added.

He noted that the the law guarantees the right of the teachers to protest.

The SCC will hold a central demonstration and march from the UNESCO Square to the Grand Serail, at 11:00 a.m on Wednesday.

In September, the cabinet approved the new salaries 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.

The wages increase will be retroactive from July 1, 2012, but the salary adjustments would be paid in installments over a period of five years.

However, the cabinet is delaying discussion on plans to boost the treasury’s revenue to cover the expenses of the salaries boost. The state treasury will have more than $1.2 billion to cover as there are over 180,000 public sector employees including military personnel.

The Economic Committees, a grouping of the country's businessmen and owners of major firms recently 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."