Prime Minister Joseph Muscat speaking at an event marking the 10th anniversary of Malta’s EU accession yesterday. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

Solutions proposed by the Malta Employers’ Association to issues that needed to be addressed were draconian, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said yesterday.

“The issues raised by the employers are real and need to be addressed but some of the proposed solutions are draconian.

“It is healthy that there is this debate on changes to the Employment and Industrial Relations Act (EIRA) but we need to introduce measures that help us progress not regress,” he said.

He was referring to proposals made by the MEA on Thursday which, among other things, suggested that employees suffering from a hangover, sunstroke, sports injuries or any other self-inflicted ailment should not be entitled to paid sick leave.

The employers insist they should not be made to pay the price for drunken evenings or irresponsible behaviour.

Although not commenting on the proposals, Public Dialogue Minister Helena Dalli said: “The government has its own proposals regarding amendments to the Employment and Industrial Relations Act.

The issues raised by the employers are real and need to be addressed

“Obviously, we shall listen to all the social partners who come forward with proposals and will be conducting a consultation exercise on the matter.”

Asked about the proposals during an event marking the 10th anniversary of Malta’s EU accession, Dr Muscat said the solution started with education. He had recently seen “shocking” statistics on school absenteeism. While students in private and independent schools attended 95 per cent of the lessons, the figure dropped to 80 per cent in State schools.

He said he was even more shocked to hear heads of schools report that students actually asked teachers how many days they could stay away from school without having to produce a medical certificate.

“Just imagine these students when they join the workforce. Abuse must be tackled and this also requires a culture change,” he said.

Dr Muscat said the government was considering drastically reducing the number of days students could stay away from school without a medical certificate.

After the negative immediate reaction of the General Workers’ Union on Thursday, the employers’ proposals were also shot down by the Forum grouping of trade unions and the Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin.

Forum said the sick leave proposal went against the interests and basic rights of employees.

Forum Unions Maltin said MEA “conveniently” omitted safeguards for the rights of female employees and their maternity benefits.

The proposals’ credibility, it said, would hold some ground had they not been so drastically one-sided.

“The MEA proposals short-sightedly favour the employer. However, in the long term, they may result in high employee turnover. Worse still, there is no consideration of the fact that, even to-date, some employers still resort to exploitative practices.”

The UĦM said productivity and competitiveness should not come about to the detriment of workers, and other measures that guaranteed value added should be employed.

It said it could never agree with a reduction in workers’ conditions and expressed disappointment at the MEA’s proposal for workers not to get additional days of leave when public holidays fell on their days off.