Appeal MPs Urge 'Immediate' Implementation of New Wage Scale

MPs who filed a successful appeal against taxes aimed at funding a new wage scale for civil servants stressed Monday that beneficiaries should “immediately” receive hiked salaries regardless of the Constitutional Council's repeal of the tax law.

In a statement issued after a meeting at Kataeb Party's headquarters, the ten lawmakers hailed the Council's ruling and emphasized that the implementation of the wage scale “should not be delayed or postponed under any excuse,” pointing out that the state has enough funds to pay the wage hike.

They noted that their appeal was prompted by the tax law's “violation of the Constitution and its impact on the lower classes.”

“We have not revoked the law to defend banks or the encroachment on seaside properties,” MP Butros Harb said in response to a reporter's question.

Public and private school teachers and public employees were on Monday observing a general strike to press authorities not to postpone the implementation of the long-awaited wage scale.

Another general strike has been scheduled for Tuesday.

The Syndical Coordination Committee, a coalition of civil servants and public and private school teachers, had decried Sunday that “some parties of the ruling class seem to have bowed to the pressures of bank and business associations and the coalition of the owners of private schools.”

“Any postponement in paying the wage hike would be an injustice against the people in light of the rise in the prices of commodities that accompanied the approval of the new wage scale,” the SCC warned.