The government has insisted that no final decision has yet been taken on the water and electricity tariffs.

The Infrastructure Ministry said in a statement this was so much so that it was agreed during the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development meeting last Wednesday that the social partners would meet again on October 18 to give the government their views on the proposals.

The General Workers Union this morning warned the government not to steamroll over the people with the planned hikes in utility bills. It said that no action should be taken without the consent of social partners.

GWU general secretary Tony Zarb said that in the 16 years that he has been dealing with the MCESD, social partners were hardly ever as united in their position, noting the statements issued by fellow social partners and the letter sent by the MCESD to the Prime Minister yesterday.

He said that the presentation given to the social partners on Wednesday, about the plans for the hikes, was not an exercise in consultation but an imposition. Infrastructure Minister Austin Gatt told the MCESD members that they had five options to chose from and that if they did not chose he would. “That’s not choice... actually in the circumstance it’s like being asked what you would rather be killed with; being thrown off a roof, shot or run over by a car...” he insisted.

He also commented on the fact that the auditors who came up with the report backing the five options had been working away at them since April, pointing out that the government kept this secret and even omitted these plans from the pre-budget document. “This is unacceptable and the government had better halt it’s plans,” Mr Zarb said.

But the ministry said that the October 18 date for the continuation of consultations was ironically requested by the GWU because its officials were going to be abroad on other dates.

It said it could not understand how while the union confirmed an appointment to continue discussing a proposal, but then said that the decision was already taken.

The ministry said it would be wiser for the social partners and the constituted bodies to use this time to analyse the proposals made by the government and see how these could be improved. Alternatively, they could come up with their own proposals.

The GWU also said this morning that its experts were currently going through the government’s presentation and calculating what it would mean for consumers in practical terms. But preliminary calculations already showed that the government’s suggested eco-discount scheme is “completely unrealistic, it said.

Mr Zarb said that the union’s official position would be made public in the coming days, when all the workings were finalised.