Proposed social pact under discussion

The Union Haddiema Maghqudin's social pact document was yesterday discussed at a round table conference involving trade unions, constituted bodies, independent consultants, government ministers and representatives of political parties.

Among those who attended the discussion at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, in Valletta were Labour Party president Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi, industrial relations consultant George Abela, General Workers' Union general secretary and deputy general secretary Tony Zarb and Manwel Micallef respectively, and Alternattiva Demokratika's chairman Harry Vassallo.

The UHM is proposing that social partners should establish and agree upon a limit on wage increases over the next two years and that the government should make a commitment not to increase direct or indirect taxation, thus safeguarding workers' income and keeping down costs to business.

The proposed Social Pact for Malta, a 52-page document, also speaks about how competitiveness should be enhanced, how to increase the efficiency of the labour market and how to promote innovation.

It tackles the easing of bureaucracy, the creation of a business-friendly regulatory environment and stable economic framework and enhancement of the tourism product.

Contacted after the meeting, Dr Zrinzo Azzopardi said it was positive that the issues were now being discussed.

"As a party, we want to get people to talk about problems. We have had the alarm bells ringing but everyone ignored them. Knowing the problem is important if one wants to solve it," he said.

"We want to continue discussions to ultimately arrive at the point of proposing solutions. As a party we are worried about unemployment and related issues. But the fact that social parties are not wasting time and are discussing real problems is a step in the right direction," he said.

Dr Abela said the meeting was "very positive and frank". Valid suggestions were made and the idea was to have a follow-up to update the social pact document.

"The initial idea and document belong to the UHM but it now needs wider acceptance and meetings such as the one we had so that finally the document will belong to one and all, which is what the UHM wanted after all," he said.

UHM general secretary Gejtu Vella said the aim of the meeting was to widen as much as possible the ownership of the idea.

"We plan to include the proposals we are receiving in the final document. A social pact can work if it has wide acceptance and that is what we are aiming to achieve," he said.