People are being encouraged to go to Valletta again today, this time to urge MPs to vote against a motion on the new water and electricity tariffs, a day after thousands packed Republic Street in a protest against the tariffs.
"We will appeal to each MP to vote against the tariffs," the general secretary of the General Workers' Union, Tony Zarb said at yesterday's protest, organised by 11 unions forming the Għaqda Unions Maltin (GħUM).
Tonight, Parliament is expected to debate a motion presented by the Labour opposition to revoke the new water and electricity tariffs, which came into force on January 1.
Calling on the government to give its parliamentarians a free vote so that they could follow their conscience, Mr Zarb said MPs would be held responsible if they did not vote to alleviate people from the burdens the new tariffs had put on them.
"They are in duty bound to ensure that people do not suffer and we will hold them responsible," he said, adding that the people would remember who allowed them to suffer.
Thousands of protesters walked behind the union leaders along Republic Street holding placards criticising the tariffs as "inhuman" and saying that the people were hurt.
Labour leader Joseph Muscat was among those attending the protest, together with representatives of Alternattiva Demokratika and Moviment Graffiti.
"We tell the government to stop bulldozing the people with the tariffs. If it wants the people to respect it, it should respect the people and not be cruel," Mr Zarb said.
GħUM chairman John Bencini, who is also the president of the Malta Union of Teachers, said the biggest confirmation that the tariffs were too high came from Eurostat, which published figures showing that the electricity, gas and fuel prices in Malta had shot up by almost 29 per cent between December and January, by far the highest in the EU.
There are many people who cannot afford to pay the hefty bills they are receiving. "There are people making huge sacrifices," he said, criticising the announcement by newly-formed company Arms Ltd that overdue bills would be slapped with six per cent interest.
Mr Bencini, who refused to give a comment to timesofmalta.com because The Times' editorial on Saturday said the protest was not in the national interest, said that "God forbid" should the government not grant some form of compensation. However, he added, that was not enough and the increases people would have to deal with exceeded the compensation. Four-person households would be the worst hit, with their bills going up by about €210 but receiving only €130 in compensation.
He said that, although small businesses, like supermarkets, would be badly affected, the Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises - GRTU, which represents them, did not take part in the protest and instead had criticised the unions who organised it. This despite the "crusade" by GRTU general director Vince Farrugia against the tariffs before he contested last year's MEP elections on the Nationalist Party ticket, Mr Bencini said.
The president of the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses, Paul Pace said that although oil prices were being blamed for the increase in tariffs, these had not risen so much as to justify the hike.
"People are paying for the wrong decisions and inefficiencies at Enemalta and for the government's deficit," he said, adding that the tariffs were a new tax imposed on the people.
He insisted that yesterday's protest was not a partisan one and accused The Times and the PN media of "censorship" against the unions.
In a letter, read out during the protest, the general secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation, John Monks that said in their rush to get rid of their deficits, governments were hitting the wrong targets. "It isn't right that lay-offs in Malta are increasing as workers pay the price with their jobs," he said.
Towards the end of the protest, the police intervened to break up what appeared to be a scuffle among a group of men. No further details were immediately available.
The Nationalist Party said later the partisan protest was held to serve the Labour Party. It said that when, in 1997, a Labour government had raised water and electricity bills although the price of oil was only $12 a barrel, the GWU had not protested. On the other hand, it was taking people to the streets when the price of oil was $80 per barrel.