Unions grouping vows to keep up crusade on MCESD membership

Forum president John Bencini warned he was prepared to follow in the footsteps of the Confederation of Maltese Trade Unions, which, in 1971, held a rally directing people to “go and meet the government at the polls”.

Forum, an umbrella organisation of 12 unions, claimed it was being stifled by being excluded from the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development and threatened to use this against the government at the next general election if it remained without a seat.

Addressing a news conference on the steps of the Auberge de Castille, which houses the Prime Minister’s office, Mr Bencini said Forum would pursue its crusade to join the MCESD.

He said two members on the MCESD were holding the government to ransom but stopped short of elaborating.

He said the government was silencing the Forum and the unions it embraced by barring them from taking part and expressing their views in the discussions on the forthcoming Budget.

“Forum is still being muzzled. In 2010, the government is still practising politics of exclusion and exclusivity to the detriment of 12 unions representing nurses, teachers, University academics, bankers, pilots, cabin crew and other workers. These workers do not exist in the government’s eyes,” he said.

He said Forum had requested an appointment with Finance Minister Tonio Fenech to discuss their Budget proposals since they were excluded from participating in today’s MCESD meeting.

Mr Bencini criticised the mechanism which calculated the cost of living adjustment saying this was “screwed-up” and had to be changed because the proposed €1.16 weekly wage increase did not reflect the additional costs families faced in the past year.

When asked why Forum had not complained when the same mechanism calculated this year’s COLA at €5.82, Mr Bencini said although it had said nothing, it did not mean the mechanism was good.

Mr Bencini listed a number of proposals made during the last Budget, which, he said, were not implemented or very little was done about them.

These included the microcredit scheme for SMEs, measures promised to reduce hospital waiting lists, the island’s connection to the European energy grid, the setting up of a consumer agency and the establishment of a creative economy, which remained a buzz word, he said.

He asked if capital projects were coming before people’s standard of living.

Mr Bencini said a debate should start on the living wage proposal and that the government should seek to change the anomalies in the present pension system.

The forum, he said, expected the Budget to ease burdens on workers while addressing unemployment and social poverty.

Reacting, the Finance Ministry said Forum had not presented any proposals on the Budget, saying “the minister hopes Forum presents its proposals so that a meeting could be held on Forum’s suggestions”.

The government’s policy was to generate more and better employment for workers, the ministry said.

In separate statements, the Labour Party and Alternattiva Demokratika said they supported Forum in its endeavour to join the MCESD.