SCC Vows to Go On Strike if Salaries Boost Not Referred to Parliament

The Syndicate Coordination Committee vowed on Tuesday to go on strike if the Finance and Budget Parliamentary Committee, which is headed by MP Ibrahim Kanaan, failed to refer to the parliament the decree aimed at increasing the salaries of public sector employees.

Kanaan said in comments published in al-Joumhouria newspaper that the committee discussed on Monday the decree, which still needs a final drafting that would be wrapped up in the upcoming two days.

The newspaper reported that the SCC will hold a meeting on Tuesday to determine the escalating measures if the parliamentary committee failed to refer to the National Assembly the decree.

The committee began discussing the new wage scale in July after President Michel Suleiman signed the decree mid-June.

The decree was endorsed by the government in March following weeks of protests across Lebanon.

However, the SCC, a coalition of private and public school teachers and public sector employees, began threatening recently to hold strikes almost a year after staging nation-wide protests over the parliaments failure to endorse the decree that was adopted by the cabinet.

The state treasury will have more than $1.2 billion to cover over the presence of 180,000 public sector employees including military personnel.

The endorsement was accompanied by increasing the Value Added Tax on cars, mobile phones, alcohol and other luxury products from 10 to 15 percent to be able to fund the raise.

Even if the draft-law was referred by the parliamentary committee to the national assembly for endorsement, it is not clear when the parliament would convene to approve it.