Malta’s trade unions have joined forces to demand an urgent meeting with Prime Minister Robert Abela over a missing additional cost-of-living-allowance mechanism for public sector and public service employees that would allow them to get the full payment.

The unions expressed their concern over the impact on workers following the omission of the relativity adjustment in the COLA mechanism announced in the budget.

The letter was signed by the Confederation of Maltese Trade Unions (CMTU), the Forum Confederation, the General Workers' Union (GWU), and the UĦM Voice of the Workers.

They explained that they had agreed to the relativity mechanism in 2021 and this was applied in the 2023 budget. However, this mechanism was left out of this week’s budget speech.

The additional mechanism was designed to ensure that the around 55,000 workers in the public service and various public entities would receive the entire cost-of-living allowance which is merged into their annual increment agreed in their sectoral and collective agreements.

If, for example, workers were due to get a €10 weekly increment inclusive of COLA, as agreed in their sectorial or collective agreement, the record high €12.81 COLA being granted next year not only neutralised this increment, but the public sector and public service employees would actually miss out on part of it. 

Without the additional mechanism, these workers would receive the agreed increment rather than the €12.81 announced in the budget.

Last year, the government included the relativity mechanism in the budget, topping up the agreement increment to make up for the high €9.90 COLA.

The unions said they were alarmed that the 2024 Budget omitted any reference to this critical mechanism, raising questions about the financial well-being of these workers. It also meant that these workers were facing an injustice when compared to other workers who had no collective or sectorial agreement.