BEIRUT: The Cabinet is to vote on one of two wage increase proposals Wednesday in the absence of a clear consensus on this controversial issue. Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas told reporters Tuesday he would raise to the Cabinet two proposals so that the ministers can vote in favor of one them.

Nahhas, who won the conditional backing of the Shura Council for his wage plan, seems determined to push for his proposal in the Cabinet although he realizes this package is not easy to sell to the private sector and the General Labor Confederation.

Both the private sector and the GLC signed an agreement which was sponsored by Prime Minister Najib Mikati to raise the minimum wage from LL500,000 to LL675,000 while Nahhas called for raising the minimum wage to LL800,000 after adding the transportation allowance to the basic salary.

The private sector argues that adding the transportation allowance to the basic salary would swell the end of service benefits fees which employers pay to the National Social Security Fund.

Most companies have constantly warned that Nahhas’ plan would deal a big blow to the economy in general and the private sector in particular.

But Nahhas has brushed off criticism against his plan on the grounds that the agreement between the private sector and the GLC is totally against the labor law in Lebanon.

“I hope that the plan proposed by the Labor Ministry will pass by the Cabinet tomorrow. Every year we will set the cost of living and increase wages for the employees accordingly. There is no such thing as a transportation allowance,” he said in news conference.

The minister believes that the successive governments since 1995 have violated the labor law and have adopted halfhearted solutions to this issue. He insists that the government is the only party which sets the minimum wage and not the private sector and the GLC.

But sources told Al-Markazyah news agency that the ministers will most likely vote in favor of the agreement reached between the private sector and the GLC.

The sources added that the agreement is backed by President Michel Sleiman, Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Speaker Nabih Berri.

They added that Mikati is keen to reach an agreement on the wages to silence some of the critics who claim that the government is incapable of reaching a settlement on this issue.

However, other independent labor unions and associations rallied behind Nahhas’ wage plan and accused the GLC of betraying the workers in Lebanon. They want the minimum wage to reach LL700,000 and add LL200,000 and LL300,000 to other salary brackets.

In addition the labor unions want the transportation allowance to rise by LL2,000 a day and the education allowance to jump from LL1 million to LL1.5 million.

Most labor unions and school teachers have threatened to wage nationwide strikes and demonstrations if their demands were not met.