MoL cuts workers wages under the pretext of correcting a mathematical error

Over the past few days, circulated a news about reducing the official minimum daily wage of laborers and employees subject to the Labor Law from LBP 30 thousand to LBP 26 thousand, with no popular protest whatsoever. In the details, that during the Cabinet meeting on June 22, 2016, a decree was released which carried an amendment of Article 2 of the Decree No. 7426/ 2012 which sets the daily wage at LBP 30 thousand as advised by then labor minister, Charbel Nahas, to LBP 26 thousand, in response to present labor minister, Saj3an Azzi, request in 2014, the latter decision has won the approval of various political parties, according to Al-Akhbar newspaper. In this respect, Azzi denied any adjustment of the set minimum wage (LBP 675 thousand), making clear that the decree came to correct a mathematical error (in 2012) in calculating the month and days (!?). Accordingly, by dividing the full minimum wage over 26 working days of a month, excluding Sundays, the correct figure would be LBP 26 thousand, alleged Azzi. Commenting on this, Nahas, while disproving of the above calculation method adopted by Azzi, categorically denied any error on his part, and explained  that dividing the entire wage by the actual number of working is incorrect.  Apart from numbers and computations, Nahas warned that the recent decree will have social repercussions on the daily worker who now suffers from the losses accrued due to deduction of holidays, Sundays and unpaid leave (amounting to 90 days every year). Likewise, the Independent Trade Union Current of Lebanon supported Nahas viewpoint, describing the present labor minister’s move as ambiguous and unprecedented, because, it argued, the wage of the daily worker is not structurally linked to the minimum wage because of different working conditions. According to 2009 data of Central Statistics Department, more than 10.2 % of the local workforce of the he country represents daily laborers. (Al Akhbar, Al Mustaqbal, Al Diyar, July 22, 2016)