Zarb supports Sant's proposal

General Workers' Union general secretary Tony Zarb sees no contradiction in wanting the government out of the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development (MCESD) and accepting the Labour Party's proposal to appoint the council's chairman to Cabinet.

Contacted yesterday and asked why he lauded Labour leader Alfred Sant's idea that the MCESD chairman should be given the rank of a minister, allowing him to attend Cabinet meetings connected with the council's business, when the union's published position states that the government should not form part of the MCESD, Mr Zarb said there was no contradiction as the two ideas were not the same.

Speaking last March, Mr Zarb had said the GWU was proposing the exclusion of Government from the MCESD but sought equal representation for employers, workers and civil society on the council.

"A council without the government's direct involvement will give a stronger voice and greater freedom to civil society," he had said.

The GWU was alone in its stance of leaving the government out of the MCESD and other social partners had voiced their concern, underlining the government's important role in the council to listen to what social partners had to say. So much so, that the GWU information officer Charles Vella reacted by writing in The Times on April 7 arguing that those writing against the union's proposals were basing "their arguments on one single proposal in which the GWU holds that the government, of today and tomorrow, should not have a permanent seat or a direct role in MCESD."

He wrote: "It is true that the GWU is saying that the government, and any future government, should not be an integral part of MCESD. The MCESD was set up as a consultative and advisory body and should remain such. The GWU is only proposing a lower profile of the government within MCESD. This model of social dialogue has been in place for several years in various northern and southern European countries and it has worked well. Then, why not Malta?"

But asked yesterday whether he saw any contradiction between the GWU's position in March and what he said last week following Dr Sant's proposal, Mr Zarb felt that Dr Sant's proposal "was different".

"Our proposal was to have an MCESD without Government's involvement. But it could be positive if the chairman attended Cabinet meetings. We would have to see it and evaluate it when it happens," Mr Zarb said.

"We always said it was time to have a chairman from the workers' side, that there should be NGOs on the MCESD and that Gozo should have its representative too. We don't want our other proposals to be forgotten."

He said that Dr Sant's proposal was different because he wanted to give more strength to the MCESD.

"We still feel that the participation of government in the MCESD is not desirable, as the government should only be there to seek advice on policy, but if the chairman is part of the Cabinet, that could be different. We have to see its pros and cons," he said.

During a meeting with representatives of constituted bodies last week Dr Sant mooted the idea that the MCESD chairman should be given the rank of a minister. The proposal is not included in the MLP's socio-economic policy document, which forms part of the party's 648-page Plan for a New Beginning.

Union Haddiema Maghqudin general secretary Gejtu Vella was more cautious in his reaction. He said his union would need to discuss the matter and he wanted to understand how the mechanism would work in practice.