Contacts are ongoing between Prime Minister Najib Miqati, Speaker Nabih Berri and Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun to resolve the controversial issue of the wage boost, An Nahar newspaper reported on Monday.

As Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas is waiting for the Shura Council’s verdict on his new proposed wage hike plan, sources told the daily that Miqati, Berri and Aoun were holding contacts aimed at reaching a political consensus over the issue.

Premier Najib Miqati is scheduled to bring the Economic Committees and the General Labor Confederation together on Monday after Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas proposed a new wage hike.

The Shura Council is now studying the wage boost proposal amid hopes that it would issue its decision ahead of a cabinet session that will be held under President Michel Suleiman at Baabda palace on Tuesday.

The cabinet is expected to discuss a new wage hike next week after the Shura Council rejected on Tuesday a previous decree proposed by Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas on the increase of salaries.

The General Labor Confederation and the Economic Committees that had agreed to set the minimum wage at L675,000 – excluding the transportation allowance - welcomed the Shura Council’s rejection of the government decision aimed at setting the minimum salary at LL868,000 including a LL236,000 transportation allowance.

The allies of Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun in the March 8 forces are pressuring him into being “rational” and “dealing positively” with the Shura Council’s rejection of a wage hike proposal made by Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas who is loyal to Aoun.

An Nahar and As Safir newspapers said Wednesday that March 8 leaders are urging Aoun’s “Change and Reform bloc to deal positively with the decision of the Shura Council under the slogan of preserving the interests of workers and employees.”

The Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc renewed on Tuesday its support for the wage hike deal that was reached between the General Labor Confederation and the Economic Committees.

It warned in a statement after its weekly meeting “the government against taking financial and economic adventures that would negatively affect Lebanon.”

Change and Reform bloc MP Michel al-Helou revealed on Tuesday that the bloc has decided to form a committee to study the Shura Council’s rejection of the government’s wage hike decree.

He said after the bloc’s weekly meeting: “Our initial assessment has determined that the Shura Council’s decision has legal flaws.”

The Shura Council rejected on Tuesday the last cabinet decision on the wage hike after holding a meeting with Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas, who had proposed the salary boost.

The meeting was held between Nahhas and members of the Council, including its head Judge Shukri Sader.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Monday denied a media report claiming he was unconvinced with the wage hike decree proposed by Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas, who was nominated by him for the ministerial post.

“Every now and then, some media reports attribute stances to him (Aoun) or to FPM sources and they (media outlets) claim to read his intentions in order to come up with the conclusions they see fit,” Aoun’s press office said in a statement.

Tourism Minister Fadi Abboud called on Monday for the revival of a deal reached between the Economic Committees and the General Labor Confederation on the minimum wage or for adjusting the cabinet’s decision.

In remarks to Voice of Lebanon radio station (100.5), Abboud said: “We could either revive the agreement reached between the Economic Committees and the GLC or the roadmap put by (Labor Minister Charbel) Nahhas for more realistic numbers that go along with the economic situation in the country.”

Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun has reportedly backed a wage hike proposal made by Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas to send a clear message to Premier Najib Miqati that he should take the opinion of the FPM and Change and Reform bloc before taking any decision.

“We are aware that the (cabinet’s wage boost) decision harms the economy and it is difficult to implement it … but we voted in favor of it with the sole aim of making the PM understand that we can break his decisions and that he should take our opinion into consideration,” ministerial sources quoted Aoun as saying in remarks published in pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Monday.