REPORT: Mahfoud: Academic year will not commence in September unless Parliament passes wage scale

Head of the Private Schools Teachers Association Nehme Mahfoud stated on Thursday that official exams will not be corrected and the academic year will not commence in September if the parliament does not pass the series of ranks and salaries.         

In a protest for the Union Coordinating Committee held at the Ministry of Education, Mahfoud called on House Speaker Nabih Berri to hold an urgent legislative session aimed at passing the pay scale.           

Mahfoud accused officials of disrupting the work of constitutional institutions, adding that the UCC has never been behind the deficit of the Lebanese state.          

The UCC, a coalition of private and public school teachers and public sector employees, had called for massive participation in the march in an attempt to exert pressure on the parliament to pass the new wage scale.            

It resumed its movements weeks ago calling on the authorities to pass the pay scale, which stipulates a wage hike.       

The decision to revive movements came as a result of the failure of the Joint Parliamentary Committees to resolve the dispute on the Value Added Tax in a proposal aimed at securing the funds for the salary scale that was approved by former Prime Minister Najib Mikati's cabinet.            

Former PM Mikati's cabinet endorsed the new salary scale for public employees in 2012, ending a long dispute that had triggered several sit-ins and strikes held by the UCC.          

Former President Michel Sleiman signed the decree mid-June 2013 and it was referred to the Joint Parliamentary Committees for further examination, however the law was never passed.