Conflict Incident Report

The Union Coordination Committee held a protest facing the Education Ministry building in Beirut Tuesday, resuming their multi-year movement to demand a wage hike.

“We call for a Parliament joint committee session to approve the wage hike in a way that guarantees our rights and dignity,” the UCC said in a joint statement, calling on all parties to free the bill from political calculations.

“We are going to escalate our movement if we do not witness any serious [actions] concerning the ranks and salary scale [issue] soon.”

Speakers at the protest representing private and public schools teachers, as well civil servants from other sectors, condemned the “procrastination” by lawmakers.

Teachers and civil servants stopped working at 12 p.m. and headed to the Education Ministry, located near the UNESCO Palace. Fewer than 100 protesters answered UCC’s call, marking a dramatic decline in numbers compared to last year’s protests.

The UCC launched their social movement more than three years ago, holding large scale demonstrations and general strikes that paralyzed many of the country’s facilities.

Despite the low turnout at Monday’s protest, the UCC will be organizing a larger demonstration and a general strike on April 23. Organizers hope the movement will again succeed in mobilizing thousands in order to exert real pressure on authorities.

The protest was paralleled by similar sit-ins in various areas around the country.

Public sector employees in Hermel and north Bekaa held a protest facing the Hermel Serail.

“The nation is ruled by an alliance of power and wealth, which led to the rise of the Union Coordination Committee all over the country as a syndicate movement... that works for a country where everyone is equal in rights and duties, away from sectarianism,” Ali al-Zein said on behalf of the UCC.

Teachers and civil servants in West Bekaa, Zahle, Tripoli, Koura, Aley and Nabatieh also joined the afternoon strike.

The teachers wondered why Lebanon’s public debt remains on the rise while the socio-economic conditions in the country are deteriorating.

“The prices are on fire and the salaries collapse. Where is the wage hike?” read one sign carried by a teacher at the Education Ministry protest.

After the demonstration in Beirut, representatives of the UCC met with Education Minister Elias Bou Saab at his office, and discussed proposed legislation on the ranks and salary scale issue.

Parliament’s joint committees held a session on March 18 in which they failed to come to any agreement on the draft law.

March 14 MPs boycotted the session, arguing that the wage hike and the 2015 draft budget were related and should be passed together.

Estimated to cost $1.2 billion, the salary scale would provide a wage hike to public sector employees including security forces and teachers at private and public schools.

On Monday, the head of the Association of Private School Teachers Nehme Mahfoud told The Daily Star that if Parliament fails to approve the wage hike, there would be no “normal end” for the current academic year.

Last year, Education Minister Elias Bou Saab issued passing certificates to all Grade 9 and Grade 12 students who took official exams after teachers refused to mark the tests in an attempt to pressure the legislature to pass the draft law.

Mahfoud said teachers would not make the same move this year because politicians were “too irresponsible” to feel the pressure and that all the consequences would be suffered by students.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2015/Mar-31/292809-ucc-res...