The Malta Employers' Association will boycott the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development and other high-level social dialogue fora until it is given its "rightful" seat on a Brussels-based civil society committee.

The association yesterday unleashed a scathing attack on the way the government went about choosing nominees for the EU consultative body.

The issue revolves around the nomination of Vince Farrugia, director general of the Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises - GRTU as an employer representative on the European Economic and Social Committee.

In an angry press conference yesterday, MEA president Pierre Fava heavily criticised the choice, arguing that the GRTU did not represent employers but the self-employed and, therefore, had no place on the EESC's employers' bloc.

The MEA's director-general Joe Farrugia went further on the selection of Mr Farrugia, a Nationalist Party candidate at the last European Parliament elections, saying "the European committee should not be used as a platform to curry personal favours".

Mr Farrugia, usually known for his composure, added: "It's as though they are urinating on the grave of our founder member, Anthony Miceli Farrugia," slamming the desk with his one hand and pointing at the founder's commemorative plaque with the other.

Asked to react to the MEA's charges, the Parliamentary Secretary for Public Dialogue, Chris Said went through the procedure used to chose the members, insisting that it was the same used in previous years.

In comments to The Times about the matter, the GRTU's Mr Farrugia attacked the MEA's stand, saying this was "petty jealousy" by the association, pointing out that the GRTU was listed as an employers' association with the Employment and Training Corporation.

Dr Said explained that, as had happened in previous years, MCESD members were asked to nominate people to serve on the EESC in three categories - employers, employees and civil society.

In the case of the employer category, where there were two seats available, three nomination were made: Lawrence Mizzi (MEA), Stefano Mallia (Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry) and Mr Farrugia.

Cabinet chose to appoint Dr Mallia and Mr Farrugia replacing Sylvia Gauci who served before him as a GRTU member, Dr Said explained.

The other appointees were: Michael Parnis (General Workers' Union) and Anne Marie Darmanin (Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin) to represent employees and Grace Attard (Nation Council of Women) for civil society.

However, Mr Fava said Mr Farrugia was not among the two people nominated by employers themselves during MCESD meetings but Dr Said insisted he was, adding he would not go into the debate of whether the GRTU represented employers, saying the law defined that already.

In light of the government's "arrogance" and "undemocratic" behaviour, the MEA will not be participating in any social dialogue fora with the government until a solution was found, Mr Fava said.

The MEA, which represents 400 companies who employ about 65,000 people, will not be turning up for meetings of the MCESD, the Employment Relations Board and the Malta-EU Steering Action Committee.

Its director general, Mr Farrugia, said: "We don't want to be part of this joke (social dialogue meetings)... We feel insulted... We have been told that we do not matter... We've had enough... The government's behaviour is irregular, undemocratic and arrogant..."

He pointed out that Mr Farrugia was quoted in The Malta Independent speaking about an agreement with the government and the MEA. According to this agreement, the GRTU was to represent employers at the EESC while the MEA would sit on the International Labour Organisation.

This agreement "was like something out of X-files" because no one at the MEA had ever heard about it, he said.

Commenting on this, the GRTU's Mr Farrugia said he would be seeking legal advice for a possible defamation case. "It's ridiculous that anyone can think that this (being appointed to EESC) is a small trophy for not having been rewarded the larger one," he said.

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