BEIRUT: The Cabinet will decide next week on the long-awaited salary raise for public sector workers, Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Friday.

“An exceptional Cabinet session will be held Monday in the afternoon to finalize discussions over the new wage scale draft law and refer it to Parliament,” a statement from the prime minister’s press office quoted him as saying.

The government approved the draft law to increase salaries for public sector employees and teachers at private and public schools in September but failed refer it to Parliament, prompting workers to stage strikes and protests across Lebanon to claim their demands.

Mikati has repeatedly said that the Cabinet is trying to secure the means to finance the cost of the raise before referring the proposal to Parliament.

The Union Coordination Committee has called for another strike Tuesday, the date which the Cabinet had originally set for its exceptional session.

If the Cabinet succeeds in approving the salary increase, the UCC strike will be canceled.