If the four-week extension to the present fully paid maternity leave was intended to increase female participation, then it was the wrong measure, two of the three employer bodies told the government yesterday.

The Malta Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Enterprise and the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association are the only two constituted bodies standing in the way of the proposed extension, with unions already on board.

So is the Malta Employers’ Association, which had declared its support for the measure so long as the government paid for it.

But despite yesterday’s disagreement, the government is resolute on introducing the Budget measure, which will see it dish out a flat rate of €160 a week for the extra two weeks’ leave to be introduced this January and for the next two weeks from January 2013.

“There was no agreement, as was probably expected, but maternity leave will be extended by two weeks as from January 1 next year,” said Parliamentary Secretary for Public Dialogue Chris Said as he left the meeting.

“The government will now consider what was said during this meeting and will see what other measures to introduce along with this measure to reflect the opinions expressed by the social partners.”

Rather than a discussion on whether it should be introduced, the government was holding meetings to see how best to implement it, he said. Other meetings are expected to be held soon.

While expressing disappointment that the issue was not discussed before the decision was taken rather than afterwards, Chamber president Tancred Tabone said figures showed that around 60 per cent of females of child-bearing age were already in employment “so the level is already high”. Moreover, he said such a measure could have a negative impact on competitiveness.

Along the same lines, the hoteliers’ new president, Tony Zahra, said that if this measure was meant to increase female participation, there were other measures that could have the desired effect.

Apart from being in favour, the General Workers’ Union and the Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises – GRTU came away from the meeting yesterday even more satisfied, after the government agreed to pay self-employed women, for the first time ever, four weeks’ maternity leave also at the flat rate of €160 a week.

GWU general secretary Tony Zarb said that while his union was happy with this achievement, which was one of its pre-Budget proposals, it now hoped that self-employed women would be able to take all maternity leave as all other women in employment.

Moreover, he said, the union will be making proposals at workplaces where it was the recognised representative, for female employees to be given their full weekly pay rather than just the €160 a week being paid by the government.

The issue of the father receiving only two days of special leave on the birth of a child, one day less than when they get married, was also raised during yesterday’s discussion.

Some social partners also questioned how the government had introduced such a measure when, just one year ago, it was one of the countries that opposed a European Parliament proposal to extend maternity leave from 14 to 20 weeks.