Government to change law

The government is to go ahead with legislation to cut the number of public holidays after a five-and-a-half-hour long meeting of the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development yesterday failed to come up with a workable solution.

The way the law is to be amended will hit employees worse than the original measure announced in the budget, which had proposed forfeiting public holidays falling on weekends for vacation leave entitlement purposes. Under the likely changes to the law, such days will no longer be considered as public holidays, meaning that those on duty will lose their public holiday premium.

Parliamentary Secretary Tonio Fenech said yesterday the government had gone to the MCESD meeting willing to implement the budget measure in the "least damaging way".

"Our initial aim had been not to increase employees' vacation leave. But the unions argued we could not change the Employment and Industrial Relations Act as for them it was a matter of principle. So we are left with no alternative but to amend the Public Holidays and National Holidays Act, which lists the public holidays. The repercussions of this are that those who work during public holidays falling on weekends will lose the premium.

"This was not the government's intention. That is why it would be wiser for the unions to agree to changes to the Industrial Relations Act," Mr Fenech said.

Sources said the government had proposed to legislate but not bring the law into force until March 18, the eve of the next public holiday this year falling on the weekend.

If agreement were reached before then, the law could be changed again. But the proposal fell through after employers insisted the government should move ahead, arguing the measure was just a fraction of what they were asking for.

The sources said the unions will only accept a proposal to reduce vacation leave, instead of changing the Public Holidays Act, in the wider context of a social pact that would cover other issues.

The General Workers' Union's general secretary, Tony Zarb accused the government of favouring employers. "We asked the government not to legislate and to give us more time for discussion. The employers wanted the government to go ahead and that is what the government has declared it will be doing.

"The GWU proposed that the discussions should continue along the lines that if employees are shouldering burdens so should employers and the government," Mr Zarb added.

Asked why the union was not accepting a "lesser evil", Mr Zarb said the unions would not fall into the government's trap. "If the government decides on its own, it will face the music on its own," Mr Zarb warned. The GWU was considering its position and would announce it later, he said.

The general secretary of the Union Haddiema Maghqudin, Gejtu Vella, also argued there should be more discussion before the government enacts the necessary legislation.

"The government can announce the measures it wants but this issue alone will not make the country competitive. This measure badly hits workers and will not solve the competitiveness problems we have. What are employers and the government giving in return? If we reach an agreement on a number of measures we can make it, otherwise everyone will go one's own way and that gets us nowhere.

"A reduction of vacation leave could have been the solution if it were a temporary measure. But the government wants the measure to be a permanent one.

"We want to agree on a timeframe for such measures, which makes all the difference. That is why a social pact makes a difference, as sacrifices are made within the context of a timeframe, not forever. I keep saying that the only way forward is through meaningful discussion," Mr Vella said.

The social partners got together again yesterday evening outside the MCESD framework in a bid to find a solution. There were no developments on the matter by the time of going to press.