BEIRUT: The General Labor Confederation suspended Friday a general strike scheduled for Dec. 27 after the government approved a wage hike plan earlier in the week.

“The executive board of the General Labor Confederation has suspended the strike which was scheduled for next Tuesday [Dec. 27],” the GLC said in a statement released Friday.

On Wednesday, the Cabinet adopted a draft law to raise the minimum wage to LL868,000 – a sum that includes a LL236,000 transportation allowance that the government added to the basic salary. The increase was set at 18 percent, in accordance with inflation rates as calculated by the state-run Central Administration of Statistics since 2008.

The proposal, presented by Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas, stipulates that salaries under LL1.5 million receive an 18 percent increase while salaries above LL1.5 million receive an additional 10 percent on the second salary bracket between LL1.5 million and LL2.5 million.

Salaries above LL2.5 million will not earn an additional increase, meaning the raise on these salaries will be at LL370,000. The raise is effective as of Dec. 1, 2011.

In the statement, the GLC also urged the government to undertake a fundamental change in policies governing taxation and to stop "draining the purchasing power of low-income earners."

The Cabinet also decided to cover directly the National Social Security Fund fees for sickness and maternity benefits that employers and employees used to pay from their own pockets.

The proposal awaits the approval of the Shura Council, a non-binding governmental advisory body.