SCC Stages Wage Scale Demo, Warns on Fate of 'Academic Year, Elections'

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The Syndicate Coordination Committee, a coalition of private and public school teachers and public sector employees, staged a demo outside the Grand Serail on Wednesday, warning the political class over the fate of the academic year and the upcoming parliamentary elections should it fail to approve the long-stalled new wage scale.

“Should the Cabinet fail to deal positively with our outcry, we will resort to major escalatory steps, and let the ruling class bear the responsibility for the school year and the upcoming elections,” SCC official Nehme Mahfoud warned during the sit-in.

"We had suspended our protests for two years due to the presidential and political vacuum,” Mahfoud noted.

He also pointed out that the suggested new taxes “are not aimed at funding the new wage scale,” calling on the government to control the squandering of public funds at Beirut's airport and port and to seek means to fund the state budget that do not put a new strain on low-income citizens.

The SCC held its sit-in as the Cabinet convened to discuss whether or not the new wage scale will be added to the draft state budget.

The SCC has been pushing for the approval of the new wage scale for several years now and has organized numerous street protests and strikes to this end. In a recent stance, the SCC has rejected the possible separation of the wage scale from the state budget, threatening to suspend the school year should the government return the wage scale to parliament.

“After six years of waiting, we will not tolerate further procrastination and lying,” Mahfoud told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Wednesday.

State-run National News Agency meanwhile reported that “private school teachers in Akkar have abided by the strike called by the SCC as meetings were held in some schools to follow up on the next moves with the syndical bodies.”

Private and public schools and technical institutions in the northern districts of Zgharta and Koura have also abided by the strike, NNA said.

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