Tuesday, 18th November 2008

PM to meet unions this afternoon

Twenty unions joined forces in a protest march in Valletta against the water and electricity tariffs last Friday. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi will be meeting trade unions this afternoon to discuss the new water and electricity tariffs.

He will also hold a separate meeting on the same subject with the Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises.

The unions called for a meeting with Dr Gonzi on Friday at the end of a demonstration which saw 20 unions come together for a historic protest against the financial burdens imposed by the new utility bills.

They called on the government to get back around the negotiation table and revise the tariffs.

Despite coming under intense pressure from both unions and employers, Dr Gonzi said he was willing to do so only so long as talks revolved around giving incentives to energy savers.

Finance Minister Tonio Fenech has made it clear that there is to be no overhaul of the tariffs but the government is open to the possibility of tweaking them in order give further help to certain categories of consumer.

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Comments

Glenn buhagiar (on 18/11/08)

this morning i went to apply for the water supply for my new shop, and i found out that the fee from lm70 163euro -- went up to lm326 760euro,(to have metres installed only) this happened in3 weeks time till i waited to recieve mepa permits . Don t know ..Please mr Gonzi try to understand our situation, as people like mr tonio and mr austin will always be in save waters.

H.Dempster (on 18/11/08)

Come on Dr Gonzi , be a man and stand up on your own feet and dont let any body , minister or not , to influence you to take a reasonable decision since after all with your hiking of the w/e rates is only damaging your reputation. That is all no more and no less. You are dividing the population in 2 catagories , ie rich and poor and no middle class. As for the rich they dont realLy bother what they pay as long as they have the luxiry , theY will continue to utilize it whilst the poor .......... NO WAY.