BEIRUT: The head of the Association of Private School Teachers, Nehme Mahfoud, threatened Wednesday to postpone the official opening of the 2014-2015 academic year if teachers are not given a pay raise.
“No academic year in September without the approval of the salary increase," Mahfoud told protesters during a sit-in at the Education Ministry in Beirut.
The academic year in Lebanon normally begins in the second half of September.
Mahfoud urged Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to “urgently” convene the legislature to discuss the controversial salary scale.
He also warned that teachers would continue to boycott grading official exams if the salary scale were not approved.
Meanwhile, the Union Coordination Committee said it would hold a strike every Wednesday until the new wage scale was endorsed.
“We hope teachers and employees will take part in these [strike] actions as long as officials fail to respond to our demands,” Hadi Zalzali said on behalf of the UCC.
UCC head Hanna Gharib also warned Tuesday that grading exams would be blocked until the workers' demands were met.
Gharib also said that payment of public employees’ salaries was a “red line” in the wake of a pay dispute.
Employees at public administrations, institutions and municipalities observed a daylong strike Wednesday.
The UCC was also holding a 24-hour sit-in at the Education Ministry Wednesday in an effort to add more pressure on politicians to reach an agreement over the long-delayed salary scale adjustment.
Education Minister Elias Bou Saad is scheduled to hold a news conference following a 1:30 p.m. meeting with the UCC.
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