SCC Renews Accusations of Cabinet Procrastination, Vows to Escalate

The Syndicate Coordination Committee lashed out at the cabinet on Thursday, accusing it of trying to thwart its endeavors by postponing discussions on the new wage scale for public employees until December 10.

“The government is buying time and stalling... Instead of referring the new salary scale to the parliament it decided to refer the matter to another session,” head of Public Secondary School Education Teachers Association Hanna Gharib said in comments published in As Safir newspaper.

He stressed that the SCC, a coalition of private and public school teachers and public sector employees, will press ahead with its demands and will not back down.

“We will decide during the upcoming days the next steps,” Gharib told the newspaper.

He noted that the SCC will stage protests, strikes and paralyze the public sector for several days if the cabinet failed to meet its promises.

The SCC staged a 2-day strike on Tuesday warning of an open-ended strike if the issue wasn't swiftly resolved.

However, Economy and Trade Minister Nicolas Nahhas said that the cabinet will begin to “elaborate” its final options to fund the new wage scale during the session set to be held on December 10.

“The decision will be based on the results of the meetings that Prime Minister Najib Miqati will hold with the competent ministers ahead of the session,” Nahhas pointed out.

Ministerial sources told the newspaper that the delay in referring the new wage scale to the parliament is because the cabinet is waiting for some studies by international organizations including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over the economic repercussions that such step would have.

The procrastination of the government in finding sources to fund the new scale has deepened the gap with the SCC, which is accusing the government of negligence over its failure to meet its demands.

However, the cabinet argues that it's delaying the issue to thoroughly discuss 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.

Earlier this year, the cabinet approved the new salaries scale for public employees.

The wages increase will be retroactive from July 1, 2012.