SCC Steps up Pressure on Parliament over Pay Raise

Civil servants and teachers upped on Tuesday their pressure on lawmakers as they held a nationwide strike and a protest in Beirut to demand the approval of the new wage scale.

Public schools and the majority of private schools were shut to abide by the call of the Syndicate Coordination Committee to hold a strike.

Government offices across the country were also closed.

Protesters marched from the Central Bank in Beirut's Hamra thoroughfare to Riad al-Solh square in the city center near the parliament.

The head of the private school teachers association, Nehme Mahfoud, described Tuesday's protest as a “democratic wedding.”

“The popular explosion will bring everyone down,” he said before marching towards downtown Beirut.

He said after arriving at Riad al-Solh that "the rulers proved they are on good terms with the Economic Committees which are linked with corruption."

In another speech, head of Public Secondary School Education Teachers Association Hanna Gharib, accused the authorities of seeking to divide public sector employees.

“Their plans were stillborn … They sought hard to divide us but they miscalculated,” he told the demonstrators.

The SCC, a coalition of private and public school teachers and public sector employees, is demanding a 121 percent salary raise that would be effective retroactively. It has also rejected proposals for the extra money to be paid in installments.

The public sector wage scale was approved by the government of Premier Najib Miqati in 2012. But lawmakers have so far failed to approve it over fears that the hike would have a devastating impact on the economy and lead to a depreciation in the Lebanese pound.

Instead, lawmakers formed a committee to study the pay raise.

But the SCC, which has held several demonstrations, cast doubt on their ability to give the public sector employees their rights after reports emerged that the members of the committee would slash the hike.

Al-Mustaqbal bloc MP Ghazi Youssef told As Safir daily that the committee would complete its mission by Friday.

Labor Minister Sejaan Qazzi described the protests held by the SCC as a “democratic right.”

“The state should react (positively) to the legitimate rights of workers,” he told LBCI.

It should also find the appropriate ways to fund the hike by putting an end to squandering of public funds and closing the door to corruption, the minister added.

G.K.

H.K.