GWU slams Budget

General Workers’ Union
Rating: 2/10

The General Workers’ Union slammed the Budget last night, saying it would leave workers, pensioners and their families burdened.

The Budget failed to meet people’s expectations and would leave people hurt, the union’s general secretary, Tony Zarb said.

Mr Zarb claimed the Budget had totally ignored a lot of the “serious proposals” the GWU had made to soften the burden. The Budget also failed to leave money in people’s pockets to ensure economic growth was really felt.

The union’s proposals included a bi-annual revision in the cost of living allowance (COLA), a call for less taxes and the revision of water and electricity tariffs.

“While the GWU understands that the COLA was calculated on the basis of the present mechanism, the wage increase granted will not be enough to help keep up with the recent increases and those resulting from the Budget,” Mr Zarb said.

The COLA as announced in the Budget stood at €1.16 and was calculated according to a mechanism agreed upon by the social partners, based on the retail price index. As soon as the sum was established in a meeting of the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development last week, the union criticised the meagre increase and said it was studying the effect this would have on families.

“The people expected this Budget to make up for the sacrifices they were forced to make in the past years,” Mr Zarb said.

The union had urged the government to immediately scale back the water and energy tariffs and underlined the need to monitor food prices.

The government announced last night it would establish the National Council for Skills, which would serve to bring together the authorities, educational operators and social partners for regular and strategic discussions regarding the development of skills in the context of the dynamics of the labour market.

This was in line with the union’s call for a commission formed by the social partners to discuss ways to raise productivity levels in Malta, Mr Zarb said. The commission, the union said, should lead to the drafting of an action plan so that Maltese workers could attain the aspirations they had when they chose to join the EU.