2011 Ends without Implementation of Wage Hike Decision
The implementation of a cabinet decision on the wage hike was on Wednesday postponed till next year after the Shura Council failed to issue its stance ahead of the last government session.
The cabinet convened at Baabda palace on Wednesday – its last session for this year - in the hopes that the Council would issue its decision ahead of the meeting. But the Council failed to do so and it was still not clear whether it would approve the wage boost or not.
Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas held talks with the members of the Council after which he told As Safir daily that he hoped the consultative body would approve the government’s decision.
The approval should have come by the end of the year “because I wanted for the Lebanese to receive the raises before the New Year,” he said.
The wage boost was proposed by Nahhas. It calls for raising the minimum wage to LL868,000 from the current LL500,000 – a sum that includes a LL236,000 transportation allowance.
Workers earning less than LL1.5 million receive an 18 percent increase while salaries between LL1.5 million and LL2.5 million receive an additional 10 percent on the second salary bracket. Wages above LL2.5 million will not earn an additional increase.
The raise is effective as of December 1, 2011.
But the proposal has stirred controversy with some officials and the Economic Committees describing it as a decision that would lead to the collapse of the economy.
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