Lebanon Braces for Wide Strikes Beginning Next Week

The public sector is expected to rise-up this month to press the government to implement a series of “rightful” demands as several syndicates are threatening to escalate their measures.

The union of taxi drivers will hold a meeting on Friday to take a crucial decision regarding carrying out an open-ended strike in February to protest the government's failure to cap rising gasoline prices, implementing a new transportation plan and modifying the current traffic law.

On Thursday, the Transportation Drivers Union announced that it will stage a strike on February 28, calling on all the Lebanese people to participate in their rally.

The General Labor Confederation will also carry out a similar action to protest the rising living costs in 2012, and the failure of the government to meet its promises concerning paying the private sector employees the school fees of last year, which were supposed to be cashed in September.

The ongoing debate over referring the new wages scale draft-law for public employees will also be a center of attention this month as the Syndicate Coordination Committee will hold a strike on February 5, 6 and 7.

The cabinet has procrastinated in finding sources to fund the scale that was approved last year, leading to growing differences with the SCC, which has been accusing it of negligence.

However, the government argues that it is delaying the decision on the funding in an attempt to thoroughly discuss plans to boost the treasury's revenue to cover the expenses of the salaries boost.

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