UPDATED: GWU backs government plans to support Trelleborg, Stainless Steel Products

The General Workers Union said today that it agreed with plans being discussed between the government, Trelleborg and Stainless Steel Products aimed at supporting those industries.

The union in a statement said that such plans should be more comprehensive, so as to include all those sectors currently facing difficulties. In this way, companies in those sectors would stay in Malta, and jobs would be retained.

The union issued its statement a few hours after Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said talks were being held with those two companies on the same lines as talks were held recently with Methode. Workers in those companies, as at Methode, are on a reduced working week.

Speaking at a business breakfast, the minister said Malta was seeking to exploit the opportunities which the current economic crisis was creating and not focus solely on the difficulties.

A government-appointed task force was discussing the difficulties faced by particular companies on a case by case basis and seeking to provide assistance which did not amount to subsidies but support as a means to encourage investment so that these companies could grow once the crisis was over.

A case in point was the agreement with Methode, announced a few days ago. Other companies with which talks were being held on the same lines included Trelleborg and Stainless Steel Products.

Mr Fenech said that the Maltese economy was relatively stable and was not in crisis. Among the opportunities which the governemnt was seeking to exploit in the current scenario was the need by international companies for cheaper investment destinations, of which Malta could be one.

Foreign investment in Malta in the first nine months of last year reached €417 million and Malta was still managing to attract investment in the current climate. Indeed, according to the EU, the Maltese economy was one of the few which would see growth this year, albeit at a slower pace than before.

Mr Fenech said the governemnt was also keeping a close eye on tourism and would be increasing its marketing efforts and seeking to better balance its markets.

On the property market, he said a mark down in prices had been observed, not least because there was an element of over-supply, but statistics of promises of sale and of final deeds showed that people were still buying.

He referred to the Budget measures announced last November and said that any stimulus measures had to be based on fiscal prudence. Malta's debt level relative to GDP had increased slightly, but was still close to the Growth and Stability Pact reference point, he said.

The business breakfast was hosted by the Malta Business Weekly.

The GWU in its statement also remarked that had the government produced its plans earlier, many jobs would have been safeguarded.

Meanwhile, the Labour Party in another statement welcomed the agreement reached between the government and Methode and urged the government to continue to help industry - one way being by reducing their costs such as the cost of electricity.