Miqati Regrets Government Inaction on Strikes

Premier Najib Miqati expressed regret that the members of the cabinet were not exerting efforts to meet the demands of different sectors in Lebanon, his sources said.

They told al-Liwaa newspaper that he was unilaterally working in confronting the protests while the members of the cabinet were not acting.

The Syndicate Coordination Committee held a demonstration on Wednesday to protest the cabinet’s failure to approve the new wages scale.

Electricite du Liban’s full-time workers will also go on strike to protest the storming of a senior employee’s office by contract workers.

The cabinet has 45 articles on its agenda, which does not include a request by President Michel Suleiman to hand Syrian Ambassador Ali Abdul Karim Ali a letter of protest on the repeated violations of Lebanese territories.

While Miqati’s sources said the issue will not be discussed during the cabinet session at the Grand Serail, ministerial sources expected ministers loyal to Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat to stir the issue from outside the agenda.

Suleiman tasked Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour with delivering the letter to Ali but the minister is procrastinating and the Syrian envoy violated the protocol by saying that Damascus should instead file complaints because its border posts are being attacked from Lebanese territories.