UHM sees 'positive and negative' in budget

The government had taken the liberty to pick and choose from the proposals discussed within the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development for the budget, according to the Union Haddiema Maghqudin.

In its initial reaction to the budget last night, the union said the government had arbitrarily chosen the measures it deemed fit after no agreement was reached on the social pact.

Union secretary general Gejtu Vella said the budget would be discussed at length with its general council today and its full reaction released shortly after.

"However, a first glance at the budget shows that there are positive, as well as negative, measures which will have a great impact on the largest section of society - the workers," he said.

Among the positive points mentioned by the union were the incentives introduced to breathe new life into the tourism and environment sectors; the creation of jobs; measures to address the deficit and tackling tax evasion.

On the latter point, Mr Vella said the union had expected the government to introduce benchmarking for self-employed and professionals. "We had also expected the government to introduce a measure whereby employers provide financial contribution for their workers' training," he added.

The downside of the budget included the government's decision to discontinue the present practice of adding public holidays falling on Saturdays and Sundays to vacation leave.

The union also hit out at the government's decision to increase the public transport bus fares; the increase in the price of kerosene; the passenger departure tax and the 17 per cent charge on the consumption of water and electricity.

"Overall the budget would have been must more effective had an agreement on a social pact been reached. The union has also been harping on the need for the government to trim the present squandering of funds; with a social pact it would have been in a better position to tackle this," Mr Vella said.

The union also believed that the government should project a clear message that it was making good use of every cent it collected from the public's taxes.

Mr Vella said the union now hoped the government would start discussing pending important matters with the social partners such as the white paper on pensions, health reform, the partial or total privatisation of government entities, the education system reform and the allocation of government employees to other entities.