Government to implement Budget measure on public holidays

The Government will implement the measure announced in the Budget Speech and amend the Public Holidays Act so that no extra days of vacation leave would be given whenever public holidays fall on weekends, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said yesterday.

Dr Gonzi, flanked by Parliamentary Secretary Tonio Fenech and other ministry officials, gave a press conference yesterday evening following a meeting he had with the Union Haddiema Maghqudin and the Confederation of Maltese Trade Unions, in which he was briefed about the divergences within the trade union movement on the draft social pact.

Dr Gonzi said he had drafted the document after he had heard the unions' and employers' positions and was yesterday informed by the UHM and CMTU as well as by employers associations that the draft formed a good basis for agreement. Only the GWU had written to him objecting to the pact, Dr Gonzi said.

Dr Gonzi said that what the GWU was objecting to was crucial to a social pact and the government had changed its original position on several fronts because it preferred to have a pact.

"Unfortunately, we did not make it. I respect everyone's decision, but now is the time to decide. We have left every window of opportunity open and have gone the extra mile to reach an agreement. Yesterday's MCESD meeting lasted till 3 a.m.! Now that we have not reached agreement, the government will act as planned.

"Despite the long time these discussions have taken up, every minute was worth it because everyone could understand and appreciate each other's position and the whole exercise brought the social partners closer," he said.

Dr Gonzi said this did not mean that social dialogue would not continue, but discussions should always be held with a view to reach agreement on something.

The Prime Minister added that in drafting the budget, the government had taken on board various suggestions made by the MCESD and it had not waited for the social pact to implement many measures, so it was unfair to criticise the government for not doing its part.

Speaking at another press conference earlier, GWU secretary general Tony Zarb said the unions had proposed a common position and the GWU had tried to stick to it as much as possible.

Mr Zarb said his union had evaluated the government's proposal but could not agree on a number of points, including the duration of the social pact, which the government wanted to fix at four years. The GWU had initially wanted this to be two years and the common position of the unions was that the social pact should last three years.

The GWU also disagreed with the reduction of vacation leave as proposed by Government, namely the loss of 10 days over four years, two days this year and next year and three days in 2007 and 2008.

The unions were proposing the reduction of three days in two years. It is understood that when the unions saw that Government was adamant on reducing leave, the unions conceded another day. With the measure the government will now be implementing, employees are set to lose 15 days over the next four years.

Mr Zarb said other points of diversion were that unions requested that part-timers would be given pro-rata leave and other benefits. This was because unions were receiving complaints from part-timers who were often being employed by different companies belonging to the same owners but they were working less than 20 hours with each company so that they would not be entitled to leave and other benefits.

Mr Zarb said the unions had agreed about the way payments would be given on a cash basis and how these would form part of the workers' salaries, but the government wanted to link this to increases in GDP growth.

Mr Zarb said unions had agreed that workers, employers and Government should all shoulder their part of the burden but from the government's proposal it was clear that only workers would be shouldering it, as where the employers were concerned, committees had to be formed to study the situation.

This claim was refuted by the Prime Minister who argued that the social pact he proposed had very clear and precise points where Government and employers too were making sacrifices and making clear commitments.

Mr Zarb said that the unions' proposals were estimated to increase productivity by about 1.2 per cent. The government had wanted measures that would enhance productivity by at least 1.4 per cent.

The government had also slashed the rate of contribution for a fund that the employers themselves had agreed to at the MCESD. Employers had agreed to pay 40c per employee per week (Lm20.80 a year) for a fund to be used for training, research and innovation but the government had reduced this to Lm5 per employee per year.

Asked about this, Dr Gonzi said the government did not want the measure to be counter-productive and he argued that sectors of manufacturing industry and in tourism would have found it impossible to pay so much.

Asked about whether the GWU would be taking part in the MLP's protest march being held today, Mr Zarb said the GWU would not be taking part as an organisation but everyone had the right to take part or not on an individual basis.

Mr Zarb said the union had informed the prime minister in writing that the union disagreed with his proposal but was willing to continue with discussions at the MCESD with a view to reaching agreement.

He said that simply because the unions did not agree on this issue, it did not mean that they would not continue to meet to discuss other crucial issues, such as the health sector, pensions and education reforms.

In the meantime, other unions not represented in the MCESD, namely those represented by the FOR.U.M., are expected to convene respective council meetings to see what position to take.