‘Labour to enlarge MCESD further’

If elected to government Labour would further enlarge the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development (MCESD) so that it would be more representative and afford more meaningful consultation on national matters.

Speaking on the MCESD amendment Bill, opposition MP Gino Cauchi proposed that instead of the Prime Minister appointing Gozitan members to the council on the advice of the Minister for Public Consultation, who happened to be a Gozitan but this might change, he should consult the Minister for Gozo.

Mr Cauchi reiterated the opposition’s support for the Bill, saying that it fully vindicated all those who had always believed they had a place on the MCESD. On the other hand, at no instance had Public Consultation Minister Chris Said, piloting the Bill, recognised that his government had been mistaken in the attitude it had adopted months ago. He had not said the opposition had been right all along. His speech was just déjà vu.

Unlike the opposition, the government was acting out of political convenience, not conviction. Back in 2010 a Labour motion had called for the same principles the Bill was proposing today, but the government had voted against them en bloc.

Even then the Forum of Maltese Trade Unions had been seen as a legitimate candidate for the MCESD with its 11 trade union members and the 12,000-plus workers they represented in education, nursing, tourism (including several sections of Air Malta), and the financial, planning and electrical sectors. When the Gozo Business Chamber had told Labour it was in talks with the government on the same wavelength, the opposition had moved an amendment to its own motion to include the GBC on the council.

Mr Cauchi said all three Gozitan MPs had voted against this, citing “principles”. Now, with impending elections, these principles seemed to have been ditched. Dr Said himself had said the government was working for consensus in the MCESD on a wider membership of the council, pending the considerations of a working group. Had the working group concluded its work, which Dr Said had mentioned 15 months ago? Its members only seemed to have a draft in hand with a request for their comments. There had been council members who had resisted such consensus because their alliances were well known. One vociferous object-or had now left the trade unions sector and allied himself to the PN. Another objector had already contested elections for the PN but was supposed to be catering for the needs of his organisation, not the Nationalist Party.

Towards the end of 2011 the PL had organised a regional conference in Gozo and Opposition Leader Joseph Muscat had mentioned the three Gozitan MPs’ votes against. The PN deputies had denied having voted against, and Mr Cauchi had asked the Speaker for a ruling which had confirmed this contention.

Mr Cauchi said it had only been after the disastrous local council elections that the Prime Minister had been moved to listen. This was more than a u-turn. The social partners had immediately criticised the government for agreeing to enlarge the council without prior consultation. So much for consensus.

The government was resorting to puerile reasons for its about-face, citing the ETUC’s acceptance of the forum in May 2010. The forum had taken its ETUC seat in October 2011, so why had the government waited so long?

The social partners were said to have wrested several concessions from the Prime Minister in a “heated” meeting on April 19. And yet the motion being discussed was almost a photocopy of decisions taken two days before th meeting.

Mr Cauchi urged the government to immediately name the members of the new MCESD, rather than through a future legal notice which could give rise to some contested surprises. There had been trouble in the past when the Prime Minister had appointed people to boards because of their alliances with the PN, rather than after the electorally promised calls for applications.

Piloting the MCESD amendment Bill earlier, Public Consultation Minister Chris Said said that the inclusion of the Gozo Regional Committee on the MCESD would ensure Gozo’s interests were represented in all discussions. The Bill also gave representation to the Civil Society Committee.

The GRC had worked tirelessly for the past three-and-a-half years, meeting on a regular basis and discussing various issues of importance for the island of Gozo, and deserved to be recognised at law because Gozo’s individual characteristics made it different from other regions.

The Civil Society Committee had also been meeting on a regular basis, to discuss important issues such as the Pensions Reform and the Lisbon Strategy.

The amendments being proposed included the extension of MCESD membership from 10 to 12 persons, ten of which would represent national employers’ and workers’ organisations with ex officio chairpersons of the GRC and of the Civil Society Committee.

Dr Said the word “dialogue” had become part of Malta’s vocabulary in the 1980s, when the concept of consultation had first been put into practice in the form of dialogue meetings organised by the PN. The practice of allowing people to have their say had become characteristic of Maltese politics.

Various developments through the years had led to the setting up of the MCESD and MEUSAC, two participative fora which had been substantially strengthened in the past years. The MCESD brought social partners together with the common aim of dialogue and making their opinions clear to government circles.

The idea of the MCESD was to continue to broaden consultation and create structures so that anyone who wanted to share their opinion would be in a position to do so.

Dr Said explained that through the years there had been a number of requests by various groups, including Forum, to join the MCESD, and all these requests had been discussed in council. The government’s position hadalways been clear that it was not against Forum sitting on the council. This was why the MEUSAC core group and nine sectoral committees, representing Forum and over 80 other organisations, had been set up.

The law currently being amended had been tailored only after lengthy consultations with the social partners back in 2001, and the need for improvements and amendments had long since been felt.

The fact was that through the years the MCESD had been consulted on various issues which were of interest for economic and social development, such as EU membership and international crises. Two important reforms carried out after discussion with the council had been in rent laws and public transport. These cases had been earmarked with discussions on social impact.

Today even the Budget was discussed in anticipation with the social partners, Dr Said concluded.

Dr Anton Refalo (PL) and Gozo Minister Giovanna Debono also spoke. The Bill was unanimously agreed through its second reading.