Parliament Approves New Wage Scale as Debate of Funding Continues

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Parliament on Tuesday approved the long-awaited new wage scale for civil servants and the armed forces although without a final agreement on the sources of funding.

Speaker Nabih Berri adjourned the legislative session to Wednesday after lawmakers approved the reforms related to the wage scale following the amendment of some articles.

“A text was added to Article 20 and it stipulates that the wage scale’s funds would be deducted from the state budget should it be approved within a month, or else the wage scale would enter into effect even without the approval of the state budget,” Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil explained.

“What was accomplished today is an achievement that we have been working on for the past five years,” Khalil boasted.

The session had witnessed a verbal clash in the afternoon between Khalil and Change and Reform bloc secretary MP Ibrahim Kanaan, who is also the head of the Parliamentary Finance Committee.

The clash erupted after Khalil described Kanaan's remarks on an LBP 1,000 billion budget surplus as a “joke.”

“I will not allow you to describe the effort of two and a half months as a joke,” Kanaan shouted, but Khalil insisted on his criticism.

The verbal clash prompted Berri to intervene to contain the situation.

After a lengthy debate during the morning round, Parliament approved an article on granting recompenses to public sector pensioners in three-year installments.

“Nothing can be given 'for free' and there are tax increases and several reforms that we are striving to approve,” Berri said.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri meanwhile said: “We are with the rights of pensioners, youths and people, but should we fail to secure funds, what would pensioners gain from the collapse of the Lebanese pound?”

MP Kanaan for his part announced that “we are days away from the approval of a state budget that would secure a surplus of LBP 1,000 billion which would spare us any taxing measures that had been previously earmarked for funding.”

Kataeb Party chief MP Sami Gemayel and Democratic Gathering bloc MP Wael Abu Faour meanwhile noted that “should the state budget manage to secure abundant funds, there will be no need to hike the VAT tax and other taxes that harm citizens.”

“There is a very large number of contract workers and this is a major burden on the state's treasury. Instead of withholding the rights of pensioners, let us address the excess number of employees, especially those of them who are not productive and who are tarnishing the image of state institutions,” Gemayel said.

Protesters from several sectors meanwhile rallied in Riad al-Solh in downtown Beirut, demanding a “fair” approval of the salary scale.

Berri stressed during the morning round that the wage scale must be approved. “It is the people's right, it must be approved taking into account the state's finances.”

Hariri remarked: “It is our right to preserve the state's finances. I will not approve the wage scale without sources to fund it.” He pointed out that rejection to impose some taxes in order to secure funds would be an indirect disapproval of the wage scale.

The Syndical Coordination Committee, demobilized Civil Defense employees and military veterans rallied in Riad al-Solh in parallel with the meeting.

The Syndical Coordination Committee, a coalition of private and public school teachers and public sector employees, 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.

Amin Samaha, Secretary of the committee of demobilized Civil Defense employees who are demanding to be given retirement salaries, said: “There are no more than 100 discharged individuals who have served the State for 40 years. They were demobilized without pension although a decree issued in the year 2000 gave them that right.”

Before the meeting began, Progressive Socialist Party MP Akram Shehayyeb said: “The PSP supports the approval of the wage scale with a ceiling limit of LBP 1,200 billion, any thing more than that will be refused.”

For his part, MP Adwan assured that the “scale will be approved today,” linking it to “the budget that will be approved within one or two weeks.”

A list of draft laws are included on the parliament's agenda, but they are topped with the long-awaited salary scale file for civil servants and the approval of the State's budget.

Parliamentary blocs are still divided over the resources to fund the scale, mainly over some proposed taxes that the private sector has warned against. These taxes would have “a negative impact on the country's economy and state finances,” the private sector says.

SourceNaharnet
Comments 1
Thumb i.report 19 July 2017, 00:43

co-co-co ruption!