SCC Fails to Agree with Miqati, Vows to Go Ahead with Open-Ended Strike

A meeting between Prime Minister Najib Miqati and a delegation from the Syndicate Coordination Committee on Tuesday failed to resolve the dispute over the new wage scale for public employees.

Public Secondary School Education Teachers Association Hanna Gharib described the meeting as “negative” and stressed that the SCC will go ahead with its escalatory measures to “confront a conspiracy” by the cabinet and the Economic Committees against public employees.

“The premier demanded us to halt our strike in return for nothing,” Gharib told reporters at the Grand Serail.

For his part, head of the private school teachers association Nehme Mahfoud lashed out at the government's “negligence,” considering that “all options are open to confront it.”

“The SCC is keen to maintain stability and economy more than the cabinet,” he noted.

Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5) reported earlier that a cabinet session set to be held on Wednesday at the Grand Serail at 4:00 p.m. will convene instead at the Baabda Palace at 10:00 a.m.

The SCC, a coalition of private and public school teachers and public sector employees, held earlier on Tuesday a sit-in near the Grand Serail to protest the cabinet's procrastination.

Gharib called on protesters for nation-wide protests on Wednesday.

“We will stage protests on Wednesday near the Finance Ministry and across the country,” Gharib said.

He told the demonstrators not to “fear anything” as he lashed out at employers, holding them responsible for the delay in ending the crisis.

“We were able to shock officials who that we will not go on with our escalatory measures... They were wrong,” Gharib pointed out.

Mahfoud hailed the private sector employees who participated in the rally.

“The law and constitution protect the teachers in the private sector and no one can harm them,” Mahfoud noted.

He called on the cabinet to meet on Tuesday afternoon to approve the new wage scale and refer the draft-law swiftly to the parliament.

“The Directorate General of Urban Planning approved on Monday the numbers, there's nothing obstructing the matter anymore,” Mahfoud stated.

On Monday, Miqati postponed a cabinet session set to tackle the new salary scale after the SCC held high hopes on the possibility of referring it to the parliament.

However, a meeting of a ministerial committee tasked with studying the new wage scale for the public sector was held instead and decided to delay referring the matter to the parliament after the Directorate General of Urban Planning delayed submitting its report over a plan on the profits from real estate.

The cabinet has been stalling in finding sources to fund the scale that was approved last year, leading to growing differences with the SCC, which has been accusing it of negligence.

However, the government argues that it is delaying the decision on the funding in an attempt 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 over the presence of 180,000 public sector employees including military personnel.

The Economic Committees, a grouping of the country's businessmen and owners of major firms, criticized on Saturday Miqati, announcing the “failure of the economic dialogue in light of the premier's unilateral action.”

The director of the Chamber of Commerce for Mount Lebanon and Beirut Mohammed Shuqair told VDL (100.5) that Miqati has to be convinced about the “dangerous impacts” that the new wage scale would have on the economy.