Teachers stage warning strike

Thousands of public and private school teachers staged a one-day warning strike Wednesday to press their long-standing demands for better pay and work conditions.

Teachers at the state-run Lebanese University joined the strike as students, with the exception of students of private universities, stayed home.

Ghaneem Zoghbi, head of the General Labors Confederation, announced his support for the strike, the second this year. The last teachers strike was staged on May 28.

The teachers main demand is better end-of-service indemnity pay. Bahia Hariri, who heads the parliamentary committee for education, acknowledged the teachers rightful demands but urged more time. "Problems are not solved by simply pressing a button," Hariri said.

But George Saadeh, head of the union of private school teachers, said he was not giving authorities more time and threatened to escalate action if the government did not respond to their demands.

"I propose that this strike be followed by a three-day strike. After that, we will resort to other means," Saadeh said. He declined to state what those were.