The GWU has called for the minimum wage and the minimum pension to be raised with a one-off financial intervention beyond the cost of living adjustment, following a scientific study.
The appeal was made by union president Victor Carachi in a message to mark May 1 Labour Day.
He noted how water and electricity bills and the prices of several other essential products and services had increased under the previous government. And while the water and electricity tariffs were coming down, it was very unlikely that the prices of many other products and services would follow.
"The trade unions will surely be making their demands on behalf of their members to compensate for this, however the categories of workers who are not unionised and the pensioners will get nothing if the State does not intervene," Mr Carachi said.
"It is also true that social problems have multiplied during these last few years and contributed for poverty to re-emerge and continue to increase. This has happened after several years where poverty was non-existent in our country. Such social problems need direct social and educational interventions. There is also a need for more social benefits, paid by the state, aimed at managing better these problems."
He said that a sector of non-organised workers and pensioners who did not have any social problems were finding it difficult to make ends meet because the minimum wage and the minimum pension were not adequate. The minimum wage, he said, should increase to also encourage minimum wage earner families to keep their children in school and not send them to work prematurely.
"The GWU believes that it is high time for the minimum wage and the minimum pension to be strengthened with a one-off financial intervention following a scientific study of when and how these can be increased without damaging the economy and the country’s competitiveness. This has to be done in addition to the annual COLA adjustment. Moreover, it is essential that such a study be conducted by experts commissioned by the MCESD in full consultation with the social partners prior to implementation," the GWU president said.
He praised the government for working to attract foreign investment but said that for the wealth to filter down to the people at large, it was essential that wages increase in parallel with the wealth created so that everyone benefits from economic growth.