BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Shura Council approved Friday the Cabinet’s decision to increase wages, recommending minor adjustments to the plan and criticizing the way the decision was made.

In a statement released Friday, the Shura Council approved Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s proposal, but said the Cabinet’s role in reaching the agreement was “exceptional” as wage hikes do not legally fall under the jurisdiction of the executive branch.

“[Any wage hike decision] should take into consideration studies and suggestions by the price index committee,” the council said, adding that the committee’s recommendation would be based on inflation rates.

The Cabinet approved a plan last week to raise the monthly minimum wage from LL500,000 to LL600,000. Under the plan, salaries under LL1million would be increased by 30 percent, up to a maximum pay hike of LL200,000, and salaries above LL1 million would see a 20 percent increase, up to a maximum of LL275,000.

The Cabinet also agreed to raise the yearly education allowance to a maximum of LL1.5 million from LL1 million.

Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas had proposed a wage hike package proposal to increase salaries by a 16.4 percent in line with accumulated inflation numbers by the state-run Central Administration of Statistics.

The proposal, however, did not receive sufficient support in the Cabinet.

The Shura Council said the increase on school allowances proposed in the Cabinet's plan should be replaced with Nahhas' proposal which bundles school and transportation allowance into one basic salary, instead of requiring separate increases.

Nahhas' package, which came after he chaired the price index committee, also proposes universal health coverage for all Lebanese residents funded through taxation on real estate transactions.

The Shura Council decision is non-binding.

The head of labor unions Ghassan Ghosn rejected the council’s decision, saying that a general strike planned for Dec. 27 would still go ahead.

“This is just a way for them [the government] to stall the decision. It is a cycle where it goes to the Shura Council and they send it back to Cabinet for amendments and so on,” Ghosn told The Daily Star, adding that the Cabinet’s decision was a complete disappointment

“[The] bottom line is, we are against this decision all together and we are still committed to the general strike on Dec. 27,” he added

Teachers across Lebanon staged a one-day strike Thursday, threatening to escalate their protests if Mikati’s Cabinet failed to reconsider a planned wage hike.

Protesters called for increasing salaries below LL1 million by 60 percent, those between LL1 million and LL2 million by 40 percent and those above LL2 million by 20 percent.