Mustaqbal: Govt. Stalling on Wage Hike Laughable Yet Lamentable

The Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc on Tuesday lauded the cabinet’s decision to compensate the families of the victims of Sunday’s building collapse in Beirut’s Ashrafiyeh district, urging the government to “quickly compensate the families of the martyrs of the Wadi Khaled and Arsal regions.”

In December, three Lebanese citizens were killed in the northern border region of Wadi Khaled by gunfire coming from across the border with Syria.

Syrian troops have also staged several deadly incursions into border villages in northern and eastern Lebanon.

Turning to the controversy over the issue of wage rectification, the bloc slammed in a statement issued after its weekly meeting “the government’s laughable yet lamentable procrastination.”

The bloc “stresses its rejection of this irresponsible behavior, as the continued delay in settling the issue of wages -- according to the agreement reached between business owners and laborers -- poses grave economic, social and financial threats,” it said.

“The living conditions of the Lebanese is a critical responsibility and it cannot be left under the mercy of a subjective, narcissistic, populist, volatile and confused approach,” the bloc added.

Separately, the Mustaqbal lawmakers criticized Hizbullah’s verbal attack against a recent visit to Lebanon by U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon, warning of the “negative repercussions” of such a stance on Lebanon.