GWU blames government and employers

The general secretary of the General Workers' Union, Tony Zarb, charged yesterday it was employers and the government that had shut the door for more talks at the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development and not the GWU, as was being suggested "by some quarters".

The union, in fact, was prepared to keep attending meetings and take part in discussions to ensure that workers' and the national interest are safeguarded, Mr Zarb said.

Speaking at a press conference, flanked by all union officials, Mr Zarb said a proposal made by the GWU about how wage increases could be worked out would have saved employers Lm21.8 million over the next three years but this "was thrown out of the window" by the government and employers.

Mr Zarb said the union was at the forefront of reforms, such as those at PBS and the shipyards, where workers had lost substantial amounts of money in restructuring exercises, and it was hence difficult for a union to accept some of the measures that would continue to erode workers' incomes.

Mr Zarb said the union had made some calculations about how workers' income would have been affected by the proposed measures and found that workers would be losing at least Lm185 a year, or Lm555 over three years.

Employers wanted the first 180 hours of overtime to be paid at normal rates while the MCESD chairman's proposal was that the first 100 hours would be paid at normal rates. Based on normal pay rates, this would mean a loss of between Lm100 and Lm150 a year. But, more seriously, the union feared that some unscrupulous employers would make employees work a 44-hour week, he said.

The reduction of seven days vacation leave between 2005 and 2007 meant that those with a wage of Lm80 a week would be losing Lm37 a year. The loss of, say, three public holidays, would mean a cut of another Lm48 a year.

One had to keep in mind that the government did not want to commit itself not to increase the tax burden and limited its commitment to VAT and income tax, while giving indications that other indirect taxes would be increased, Mr Zarb said.

Another issue was that the union wanted a clear reference to benchmarking not a vague "watered down version".

In the light of findings that many self-employed were declaring just over Lm4,000 and that most sick leave taken was by self employed, the measure regarding benchmarking for this sector was even more paramount to ensure that everyone paid the taxes due, Mr Zarb said.

Mr Zarb said the union had made clear counterproposals about how wage increases should be given and this would have had huge savings for employers. This was however not accepted.

He said the union was receiving many messages from different places of work that encouraged it to continue striving to ensure workers' conditions would not be trampled on.

The union also appreciated the statement by the Malta Union of Teachers which, he said, showed that the GWU was not the only union to be resisting certain changes for the worst. Mr Zarb referred to minutes of an MCESD meeting held in August which said that unless there was agreement on certain issues these should not be included in a social pact and discussions about them should continue in a second round of talks.

The government reacted to the GWU's press conference by saying that with a little more effort, a social pact could have been agreed to, paving the way for greater competitiveness and a stronger economy.

But this was not to be, because "one of the social partners" had declared it was no longer interested in pursuing the talks, at a time when agreement had been reached on certain parts of the document presented by the MCESD chairman.

A social pact would be in the workers' interest, the government said. Greater competitiveness would mean more jobs, government finances being put on a more solid footing and the creation of wealth.

"The government is therefore not only concerned but surprised at the stance taken by the GWU, when it knows that although sacrifices would have to be made in the immediate future, the GWU's own members would benefit over a period of months.

"Under these circumstances, it is in the national interest that the government take decisions to boost competitiveness...

Nevertheless, it will keep the door ajar for further negotiations and possibly their conclusion."