Lebanon unions vow crippling strike

BEIRUT: Labor unions are gearing up for confrontation with the government over wages, pledging a crippling general strike, roadblocks and demonstrations on Dec. 27 as teachers prepare to strike across the country Thursday.

Ghassan Ghosn, head of the General Labor Confederation, announced the strike Monday after a meeting of the groups’ executive council.

“The strike will be accompanied by street action to express rejection of the economic policies adopted by the government,” Ghosn told The Daily Star.

The confederation had called off a mid-October strike, expected to be the largest in the country’s history, after the government enacted a wage increase decree that was later rejected by the Shura Council.

The newest version of the wage increase decision, despite allegations of an under-the-table deal brokered by Prime Minister Mikati, failed to secure GLC’s approval.

Ghosn warned that protesters could block roads, but denied some media reports which quoted him as saying that demonstrators would block roads with burning tires.

A GLC statement slammed the Cabinet’s wage increase decision, saying “it was worse than the wage increase given to workers last October.”

The statement lashed out at the government and Business Associations, saying private sector heads had dictated an “anti-labor” wage increase decision to the Cabinet, thus denying workers a right which had been 17 years overdue.

The LL600,000 minimum wage set by the Cabinet was offensive and humiliating to the Lebanese worker, Ghosn added. He also reiterated the GLC’s support for the imminent UCC-led teachers’ strike Thursday.

The announcement of the strike followed unsuccessful negotiations over the weekend between Mikati and the Union Coordination Committee.

Hanna Gharib, head of the UCC, a gathering of teachers and public-sector employee unions, told The Daily Star Sunday his group was going ahead with the strike despite some positive responses toward their demands demonstrated by Mikati.

The Association of Public Employees called in a statement issued Monday for wide participation in the strike and demonstrations Thursday.

Despite the announcement of the strike, deliberations involving Business Associations, the GLC and the UCC continued Monday in an effort to revise the wage increase deal to make it suitable for all.

Adnan Kassar, the head of Arab Chambers of Commerce and the head of a delegation representing the private sector, met Monday with Mikati to discuss the issue of salary increases.

“The subject of correcting wages is being followed up and there are efforts to find a solution for it,” Kassar told reporters after the meeting at the Grand Serail.

A follow-up meeting brokered by Kassar gathered private sector heads, convening under the framework of Business Associations. A statement issued after the meeting said that the wage increase decision was not an effective solution for the country’s economic and social problems

“The Cabinet’s wage increase decision did not meet the aspirations of Business Associations ... and does not present a solution to the country’s chronic economic and social problems,” the statement said, calling on the government to enact a comprehensive long-term socio-economic plan.

It called for reviving the Economic and Social Council, which was deemed the appropriate place to discuss and resolve any differences among labor unions and employers.

Economy Minister Nicolas Nahhas told Voice of Lebanon radio station that deliberations were in progress toward offering Lebanese a pre-holiday raise.

“There are deliberations over realizing certain demands and social benefits to come up with a comprehensive wage increase decision acceptable by all sides,” he said. “We are in the process of discussing the possibility of offering additional benefits to be a Christmas bonus to Lebanese.”

Nahhas said the government subsidies on fuel and diesel were subject to the availability of financial resources.

The Cabinet approved a decree last week to raise the minimum wage by LL100,000, stipulating that salaries under LL1 million be increased by 30 percent up to a LL200,000 increase, and salaries above LL1 million by a 20 percent increase up to LL275,000.

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Business/Lebanon/2011/Dec-13/156677-lebanon-unions-vow-crippling-strike.ashx#ixzz1gU1FKYZv

(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)