Cabinet Sticks to Wage Hike as Labor Unions Split and Economic Committees Reject
A cabinet decision to increase wages has led to a new crisis in Lebanon after it angered some labor unions for not meeting its expectations and drew strong criticism from business leaders over their fears that the government’s move would shatter the Lebanese economy.
The cabinet will now have to confront the chaos that resulted from its decision on Tuesday to increase the minimum wage to LL700,000 from LL500,000. It also raised by LL200,000 the wages of workers earning less than LL1 million and by LL300,000 those earning between LL1 million and LL1.8 million.
In a session it held at Baabda palace on Wednesday, the government decided to go ahead with its decision and sign a decree calling on the public and private sectors to implement it.
But the Economic Committees that include businessmen and owners of major firms warned that the Lebanese economy would suffer if companies give the LL300,000 raise to the employees who earn between LL1 million and LL1.8 million.
They said during a meeting held at Beirut’s Chambers of Commerce and Industry that the private sector should not abide by the cabinet’s decision on the salary boost.
Ministerial sources told An Nahar daily that the increase in wages in the private sector would take effect as soon as the government issues its decree. But the public sector would have to wait until Finance Minister Mohammed Safadi prepares a draft law that would take into consideration the hierarchy of workers and would not fully abide by the ceiling of LL1.8 million.
The sources lamented however that employees of the private sector who earn more than LL1.8 million would not be able to enjoy the raise.
Ministers loyal to Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun, who on Tuesday rejected the salary boost as only a “tranquilizer,” clashed with other ministers over the issue again during the cabinet session on Wednesday.
They slammed the decision as “incomplete” for not taking into consideration the hierarchy of employees.
Despite reports that Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas would not sign the salary boost decree, he told As Safir daily that he would go ahead with drafting it and would refer it to the government.
The decree would be “in harmony with the cabinet decision despite our objections to it,” he said.
The “settlement” reached by Premier Najib Miqati on the wage boost was similar to a “time bomb” that targeted the majority forces, syndicates and laborers who suffered the biggest disappointment since the salary raises started in the 1970s, Nahhas added.
Divisions inside the cabinet reflected on labor groups with some blasting the General Labor Confederation for giving the cabinet the green light to approve the wages. The GLC was initially calling for more than doubling the minimum raise to LL1,250,000.
But it later struck a deal with the government although it expressed reservations at the rate of increase.
GLC chief Ghassan Ghosn held talks with Miqati at the Grand Serail on Thursday. After the meeting he stressed that the raise should be implemented both in the private and public sectors.
He reiterated that the wage hike should include employees and workers who have more than LL1.8 million monthly incomes.
Among the labor groups that blasted the cabinet’s wage package is the Private Teachers Association, which called for a one-day strike Wednesday to protest against the “unfair” salary increases.
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