Lebanon Information Minister Walid Daouq told LBC TV on Saturday that he predicts that the State Shura Council “will reject” the wage hikes recently adopted by the cabinet .
Daouq expressed concern that the process for resolving the controversial wage issue “will go back to square one ” .
The cabinet voted on Wednesday to increase the minimum monthly wage from 500,000 LL to 868, 000 LL or about 74 %. The increase was based on a proposal presented by Minister of Labor Charbel Nahhas who represents the Free and Patriotic Movement (FPM) in the cabinet
Daouq said following the meeting last Wednesday that the ministers also agreed to increase the daily minimum wage to 33,000 LL and introduce a minimum monthly transportation allowance of 268,000 LL.
Daouq also said that salaries less than LL1.5 million will be increased by 18 percent while salaries between LL1.5 million and LL2.5 million will be increased by 10 percent. Wages above LL2.5 million will million will receive a flat increase of LL370,000
The new wages are retroactive to December 1, 2011.
FPM declared victory following the approval of the wage hike by the cabinet.
Many fear that the new wage increase would be quickly offset by inflation.
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