Updated 4.55pm - Added PN statement
The General Workers’ Union on Wednesday asked what was wrong with defending workers’ right to leave or with workers receiving detailed pay slips.
It was reacting after the government on Tuesday announced that it was suspending new legal notices on working conditions as a “sign of goodwill” after complaints by employers' organisations that they had not been consulted.
Four employers’ organisations said they would be boycotting forthcoming meetings of the Employment Relations Board in protest against the introduction of the new regulations, “by stealth”.
The Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises (GRTU), the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry, the Malta Employers’ Association and the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association were reacting to the publication of four legal notices regulating business transfers, temporary agency workers, itemised pay slips and annual leave allotment which were meant to come into force a few days ago.
In a statement, the GWU said, it was “absolutely against” the government’s decision to suspend reforms that, it said, had been discussed at length with all stakeholders.
“Contrary to what some would have us believe, these legal notices were discussed over the past two years in various meetings,” the GWU said.
It said it could not understand how anyone could be against workers being given a pay slip that clearly laid out how much they were paid.
“This is a simple measure that thousands of other workers have already been enjoying for years,” the GWU said.
Likewise, the union said, it could not understand what was wrong with protecting workers’ leave.
“What is wrong with allowing un-taken leave to roll over to the next year? How many times have we heard of cases where workers leave has been denied or cancelled, only later to be informed that it had been lost?” the union asked.
Government did not consult - PN
In a statement issued on Wednesday afternoon, Nationalist Party MPs Hermann Schiavone and Karl Gouder said that the government's forced U-turn showed that it had not consulted social partners before trying to force thr changes through.
"This shows that the government has no long-term plan for changes in industrial relations," the two MPs, who respectively serve as spokesmen for social dialogue and industrial relations, said.
They added that "although the PN is in favour of measures which improve leave conditions for workers, it believes that such changes must be part of a long-term plan if they are to be truly sustainable."