Hajj Hassan blasts minimum wage

Lebanon's Agriculture Minister, Hussein Hajj Hasan, expressed non-satisfaction at lower wages passed by the cabinet. Addressing Union Syndicate and Merchant Associations' representatives at his Ministry office, Minister Hajj Hasan reiterated support for the law project advanced by his colleague Charbel Nahas, even though it was not put to cabinet vote. The Minister added that lower wages passed by the government was totally unsatisfactory because it failed to address soaring living conditions. The Minister perceived no distinction between his own approach and that of the Aounist cabinet ministers. He added that Hizbullah-Aounist coalition inside and outside the cabinet would continue unabated. Hajj Hasan disclosed that government-sponsored diesel oil would feature high on cabinet sessions' agenda and that the only thing missing so far deals with special mechanisms to see to them through. He urged business bosses and workers to discuss ways out of the crises and that the government finds itself ready to play the middleman's role. He accused certain monopolies of hiding diesel oil to prop up undesired price hikes.