PM Says Cabinet Holding onto Controversial New Wages Scale
Prime Minister Najib Miqati said on Tuesday that his cabinet is keen to maintain the financial balance in the country and to allocate the necessary money to finance the new salaries scale for public employees.
“We can't spend without having revenues,” he said in comments published in An Nahar newspaper.
The government recently discussed plans to boost the treasury’s revenue to cover the expenses of the salaries boost through several proposals including the implementation of a hike on taxes on land parcels and sea properties.
The state treasury will have more than $1.2 billion to cover as there are over 180,000 public sector employees including military personnel.
The premier pointed out that the competent ministries are currently studying the funding resources.
However, al-Liwaa newspaper reported that the Syndicate Coordination Committee is expected to reiterate on Tuesday its threat to resume strikes if the government failed to meet a deadline over the new wage scale.
According to the daily, the SCC will escalate its measures, which may jeopardize the 2012-13 academic year.
On Monday, a delegation of the Economic Committees, a grouping of the country's businessmen and owners of major firms, handed Miqati a memorandum that tackles the negative repercussions of implementing the salary increase.
The delegation also held talks with Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat.
The Economic Committees argue that the government’s plan “will inflict heavy losses on the public and private sectors.”
In September, the cabinet approved the new salaries scale for public employees ending a long dispute that had prompted the SCC, a coalition of private and public school teachers and public sector employees, to hold several sit-ins and strikes.
The government's wages increase will be retroactive from July 1, 2012, but the salary adjustments would be paid in installments over a period of five years.
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