The Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin urged the Government yesterday to take action against people who abused social benefits.

“Certain decisions need to be taken to ensure that people who abuse the system will not remain a burden on those who work and on society,” union general secretary Josef Vella told Prime Minister Joseph Muscat during a courtesy visit at Castille.

Stressing that the union would always have a strong “social conscience” and that it would always help people in need, he said the Government had to take a stand on benefit abusers and the time had come to stop covering people who refused to work.

Surrounded by the union’s various section secretaries, Mr Vella said they worked hard on the Jobs+ project, the union’s labour market policy that had been endorsed by the Government and the social partners.

Dr Muscat welcomed the union’s executive and pointed out that he was very pleased with his relationship with them. “We might not always see eye to eye but our relations were always positive,” he noted.

He said the Jobs+ policy formed an important part of the Budget: “It’s not just a talking shop but an enormous amount of work was put into it to draw up strategies and policies.”

After strong collaboration between various ministries, the strategy would be announced in the Budget, Dr Muscat said, without going into detail.

Next month’s Budget would also include the first batch of electoral promises, he said.