24 - 30 May 2001

FOI criticises unions’ wage demands

by Ivan Brincat

The union’s present claims for pay increases in the public sector can only bring about a deterioration in the condition of the eco-nomy, the Federation of Industry said yesterday.
The FOI is backing the minister of finance who said the unions’ pay demands were unreasonable and that they were indirectly telling government to increase taxes. It said government would be irresponsible if it gave in and allowed any increase in its wage bill of the order mentioned.
The FOI urged government and the trade unions to use the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development as a forum to discuss the matter together with employer organisations in a serious manner and come round to sustainable solutions and an agreement that does not harm the future development of Malta’s economy.
Meanwhile, it was another day of strikes and protests yesterday as Malta Maritime Authority employees left their offices at 10am, walked up from the port into Valletta and spent nearly two hours outside the Finance Ministry in Old Mint Street.
The strike was ordered by UHM assistant secretary general Joe
Grillo at 10am yesterday. Around 180 employees walked out of the office. At around 11.30am, Housing Authority employees were also ordered to strike, until 1pm. They marched in protest from their offices in Floriana and joined the MMA employees outside Minister Dalli’s office.
While the strikes were under way, discussions between the Malta Freeport and the General Workers’ Union on the dispute regarding port workers were being held.
GWU section secretary Emmanuel Micallef told The Malta Business Weekly yesterday evening that despite two meetings there was still a stalemate on a number of clauses even though the two parties had agreed on the financial terms.
Mr Micallef said certain issues were still crucial and the two parties were not far apart. “However, if an agreement is not reached, we are back to square one,” he said.
Discussions are set to continue this morning.
Meanwhile, Mr Grillo confirmed the government had offered an increase of Lm1.90 per week over a three-year period. He said the UHM was ready to consider alternatives but was not willing to be faced with a take-it-or-leave-it attitude.
The employees resumed work at around 1pm however industrial action has not been called off.
Meanwhile, employees at the anti-drug agency Sedqa and social work agency Appogg yesterday continued to observe directives given to them on Tuesday by the UHM. They were ordered to work-to-rule, not to answer telephones and faxes, not to use computers and any form of correspondence.
At the Housing Authority, employees were ordered not to offer their services to the public and not to make use of computers, telephones and other equipment.
Yesterday afternoon, Mr Grillo had a meeting with the Employment and Training management who assured him that by next Tuesday, they will forward proposals for the union to consider.
The FOI said trade unions had to appreciate that the country is losing its competitive edge and they are expected to help rectify the situation rather than make it worse.
It said this was not the signal the country was getting since the trade unions are exerting pressures on government with their demands for high wage and salary increases to the benefit of employees in public corporations and authorities.
The FOI said the unions were ignoring the present serious situation in government finances, a high deficit and an increasing national debt.
It said the unions knew the level of commitment of the government in the economy to provide a high level of public sector employment where several thousands of employees are known to be under-utilised and a sophisticated social security set-up that is evidently not sustainable beyond the medium term in its
present form.
The FOI said each citizen was feeling the effects of government pressure to bring down the deficit and the national debt by a clampdown on tax evasion and higher taxation on each citizen.
“So far the government has not managed to decrease its expenditure and the effects of this squeeze is a reduction in the disposable income of workers and entrepreneurs. This is one of the factors contributing to the serious cash flow problems that everyone knows about.”
It appealed to the unions to assess the damage that they could be doing to the national economy by their present demands.
“Serious reflection and action is needed right now,” the FOI said.