http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2013/Mar-10/209506-communist-party-holds-rally-in-support-of-public-sector-strike.ashx#axzz2N8yD4rEJ
Communist Party holds rally in support of public sector strike
March 10, 2013 01:27 PM
The Daily Star
Rally by the Lebanese Communist Party near the Grand Serail on
Sunday, March 10, 2013. (The Daily Star/Hasan Shaaban)
BEIRUT: The Lebanese Community Party held a rally near the Grand Serail in
Beirut Sunday in solidarity with the open-ended strike by civil servants and
teachers in protest against the government’s failure to finalize a public
sector wage hike.
The protesters slammed the government for its delay in referring a new salary
scale to Parliament and praised labor unions for standing firm in their demands
in the face of the government and the private sector.
Hundreds of protesters led by members of the communist party and the head of
the Union Coordination Communist Party Hana Gharib formed a human chain and
marched toward Riad Solh Square near the Serail.
Carrying Lebanese flags, the protesters also carried a picture of late
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. One banner read: “We will not allow the money
whales to eat our rights.”
The UCC, representing public sector employees and teachers, launched an
open-ended strike on Feb. 19, along with a series of protests outside several
ministries. They warned that their demonstrations will continue until the
government refers a draft wage scale to Parliament for approval.
Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who has been the target of attacks by labor
unions, has said that more time is needed to study means of financing the wage
scale. He has said that the sharp decline in the country's economic growth has
prompted him to be more patient in referring the wage scale.
The Economic Committees, representing the private sector, have rallied against
the approval of the wage scale which they say could create a heavier burden on
the economy already reeling under bad conditions.
Former labor minister Charbel Nahhas, who spoke at Sunday’s rally, said Mikati
has lost his official mandate as prime minister after failing to refer the wage
hike.
“Abstaining from referring the salary scale from Cabinet to Parliament has made
Mikati lose his official mandate,” he said.
The Secretary General of the Communist Party Khaled Hadadah criticized the
Cabinet and said it “has not disassociated itself from anything but its duty.”
“The salary scale has been a right of the public sector for tens of years and
you should refer it to Parliament,” Hadadeh said.
President Michel Sleiman has pledged to push forward salary increases and refer
the new wage scale to Parliament in the first Cabinet session after March
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(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)
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