Social partners met yesterday to discuss proposals they had made and identify priorities for the November 14 Budget, including measures to increase female participation in the labour market.

The two-hour long meeting consisted of individual presentations by unions and employer officials who made their case for their proposals, which they had had submitted in writing to the Finance Ministry.

None of the representatives of the social partners spoke to media after the meeting, saying it was agreed no comments would be made.

Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said there was a general consensus that the country should strive to maintain its economic stability to further its wealth and employment levels and keep its international standing. Several proposals were discussed, including measures to increase the role of females and pensioners in the labour market.

The meeting also discussed ways of helping different sectors such as tourism and small enterprises. The sustainability of the social sector was also discussed.

Outside the Phoenicia Hotel, in Floriana, where the meeting was held, 11 unions that form part of the Forum of Maltese Union protested that, once again, they were left out of the important debate preceding the Budget.

Forum president John Bencini said his organisation, which represented 12,000 workers, was now a full member of the European Trade Union Confederation but was still being left out of the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development.

He complained that the Forum was being “muzzled” by the government that continued to refuse it a seat on the social dialogue council. He said the unions would not stop its efforts to get its seat “until the government stops discriminating against us”.

Mr Bencini said the government had turned down a request for a one-time concession to be able to participate at council level, even as observers.

Mr Bencini said the Forum’s budget proposals included a call for a revision of the income tax bands, a pre-electoral pledge. In its document, Forum said this would not only honour the promise made but would help stimulate the economy by increasing tax revenue. “This theory (through which tax cuts would stimulate the economy) has been explained by the Prime Minister himself, so the hesitation is incomprehensible,” it said.

It also called on the government to curb “underground jobs (with people not paying a cent in national insurance or income tax. As if it is not enough, these same people then claim benefits and subsidised water and electricity, dealing a double whammy for honest tax payers.”

Forum also called for a change in the Malta Tourism Authority’s marketing schemes in a way that would not adversely affect Air Malta “or an incentive scheme that gives a support premium for each passenger brought to Malta”.

It suggested that family-friendly measures already in place at government level be extended to government entities and the private sector.