GWU to stage protest against public holiday cuts

The General Worker's Union and possibly other unions will on Monday evening protest in the streets of Valletta against the reduction in the number of public holidays as changes to the National and Public Holidays Act will be moved in Parliament.

GWU general secretary Tony Zarb told a press conference yesterday, attended by all the union's officials, the union was asking its members and other unions to join it in the protest.

"The government has again sided with employers. Workers, who are always shouldering the burden, should show their anger," he said.

Mr Zarb said that although the union had not seen the amendment the government planned to introduce, as far as he knew Malta would be the only country where January 1, May 1 and Christmas Day would not be public holidays this year.

He said the GWU had contacted other trade unions to inform them about the protest and although he had no confirmation about their participation the response was "encouraging".

"We want to send out a clear message that the government cannot just steamroll over us. This is only the start of our campaign. We shall be informing foreign trade unions about this too," he said.

The union, he added, was willing to continue to negotiate within the framework of a wider pact in which employers and the government would declare that they were ready to share some of the burdens with the workers.

Asked whether the union would be celebrating May 1 in a special way this year, as it would fall on a Sunday, Mr Zarb said it would definitely celebrate but it was too early to say what activities it would hold to make it more special.

The government looks set to remove from the list of public holidays those falling on the weekend after the social partners meeting on Wednesday failed to agree on an alternative way to cut leave entitlement.