UCC says all demonstrations to discontinue after the
Cabinet referred the wage scale to Parliament after an eight hour session.
This after the
Union Coordination Committee (UCC) staged on Thursday a sit-in outside
the Baabda Palace, with the participation of employees for Lebanon's
public and private sectors, public administration employees, teachers
and students.
Head of the UCC, Hanna Gharib thanked all protestors who responded to the UCC call despite all pressures exerted against them.
Gharib urged Ministers to vote in favor of the
salary scale, as it is, without "unfair adjustments" that the
cabinet would discuss today, calling upon them to commit to the
agreements which they approved and signed.
He added that the suggestions which are to be discussed clearly favor the interest of the Economic Committees.
Gharib called upon the protestors to commit to their stand until the salary scale is referred to Parliament.
He added that staging the sit in today before noon, not
in parallel with the
cabinet's session at 4:00 p.m., indicates good
intention and allows the Ministers to respond to the UCC demands.
For his part, head of private school teachers association Nehme
Mahfoud called for the referral of the series of ranks and salaries to
the parliament, noting that President Michel Sleiman and Speaker Nabih
Berri should do their utmost at the cabinet session to find a solution
to the problem.
In this context, Mahfoud stressed that the wage
scale should not be adopted on the "expense of the poor", adding that
the academic year will end normally with students granted their
certificates as per the norm.
Air traffic at Beirut International Airport suspended
Air traffic was suspended at the
Beirut International Airport as of 10 am and lasted until 2 pm since
Civil Aviation employees voiced solidarity with the Union Coordination
Committee.
13 flights were affected by the air traffic suspension,
including Middle East Airlines as well as many Arab and Foreign
carriers.
Consequently, the flights’ schedules were modified as per an amended timetable.
In
this context, head of air traffic controllers Kamal Nasser el-Din
announced that all air traffic controllers at Beirut International
Airport will take escalatory steps should the government refuse to meet
their demands.
Nasser al-Din asserted that the air traffic
controllers will not backtrack until the ranks and salaries series is
referred to Parliament.
Catholic schools close their doors
Most
of the Catholic schools across Lebanon closed their doors in numerous
regions upon the call of private schools teachers syndicate and the
Union Coordination Committee (UCC).
In this regard, teachers and
students took part in the staged outside Baabda’s Presidential Palace in
order to reiterate their demands to refer the series of ranks and
salaries to parliament.
The Union Coordinating Committee launched
its open ended strike on February 19th 2013 after making repeated calls
on Prime Minister Mikati to validate the new salary scale and
consequently refer it to Parliament for ratification.
The union
leader Hanna Gharib, insists that no compromise on their demands will be
accepted, stating that the salary hike should be paid in one go using
alternative resources.
Education Minister Hassan Diab warned
Tuesday 26 February, that official exams for Grades 9 and 12 scheduled
for the summer could be postponed.