GRTU working on 'fair rates'

The Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises - GRTU is working on a set of "fair rates" to use in court when it challenges the utility tariffs imposed by the government.

Contacted yesterday after an executive council meeting, director general Vince Farrugia said the GRTU is also preparing to issue directives to its members to protest against the "unjust" water and electricity tariffs. He said the GRTU was discussing the matter with its lawyers and will issue the directives in the coming days.

Last week, 11 unions called on people not to pay their water and electricity bills within the 45-day time window imposed by the service providers. The unions warned that this "cautious" directive was just the beginning and that each union was free to escalate the action as it deems fit.

The directives were issued after Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi refused to meet the unions, which include the General Workers' Union, the Malta Union of Teachers and the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses, to discuss their queries on the tariffs.

Dr Gonzi kept insisting that the unions should have their questions answered by the Malta Resources Authority.

Enemalta chairman Alex Tranter had said the directive could bring about "enormous cash flow problems", adding that it could even mean Enemalta would not have enough money to pay for its oil purchases.

The GRTU is describing the tariffs saga as the government's "mess-up".

"There is no one out there who's convinced the government is right. How on earth can anyone believe (Dr) Gonzi and his ministers when the bills are now pouring in and people can see for themselves that the GRTU, the unions and everybody else was right?" the GRTU said in a recent newsletter to members.

"The new tariffs will undoubtedly deal a deathblow to jobs. Nobody knows the drastic effects which the increase in tariffs will have," it said, adding that, with the support of European social partners, it was prepared to take all the necessary steps to ensure the government revised the tariffs.

Mr Farrugia said the official tariffs were between 10.4 and 15 per cent higher than the original rates proposed to social partners in October, which had caused a storm of protests and led unions to organise a joint demonstration in Valletta.

He insisted that not all businesses could afford to pass on the costs to the consumer, as was the government's apparent intention. Such costs would be recovered through job cuts. The situation was especially difficult in view of the global financial crisis.

"People are confused and hurt and this saga has to be brought to an end," he said.