Discussions between social partners lack transparency and are overly secretive, PN MP Claudette Buttigieg told parliament on Monday.
Buttigieg noted that just four presentations of discussions between social partners were publicly available on the website of the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development.
Three of those presentations related to a meeting held in May, with the fourth presented in October.
“But I am informed that there is a presentation every time social partners meet,” Buttigieg said. “So where are all the other presentations? Why can’t people know what is being discussed?”
The MCESD brings together representatives of the country’s major trade unions, lobby groups, the Central Bank and government. It serves as an advisory council to the government, allowing the latter to consult with social stakeholders about its policy and legislative plans.
Among the presentations missing, she noted, was that concerning the reform of cannabis laws.
Social partners’ concerns about that law were being proven right, Buttigieg said, but their views as expressed within the MCESD remain hidden from public view.
The issue is one of several concerns about the MCESD that Buttigieg flagged in a speech in parliament on Monday evening.
She decried the government’s reluctance to engage in “genuine” social dialogue, as opposed to the cosmetic variety that only seeks to confirm its point of view.
Discussion when it comes to implementing EU directives into law now borders on the non-existent within the MCESD, Buttigieg said. And social partners’ concerns about the way in which the council chairman is appointed – it is currently the prime minister’s prerogative – remain unresolved.
Buttigieg suggested having a rotating chairperson, to ensure all representatives would get their turn.
And she also recalled that her government counterpart, junior minister Andy Ellul, had once pledged to bring her along to an MCESD meeting, to give her the chance to engage with social partners.
“You never followed up on that offer, but I’d be very keen to do so,” Buttigieg told her fellow MP.
Her PN colleague Ivan Castillo said Buttigieg should not hold her breath.
“I’ve been waiting for six months for a meeting with the DIER [Department of Industrial Relations],” he said. “You can imagine how quickly they’re going to allow you to sit at the MCESD table.”