MATTHEW XUEREB

As the government this evening presents an encompassing law to implement the measures it announced in the budget, including the one which will see four public holidays falling at a weekend being struck off the list, Maltese workers led by the General Workers’ Union will be taking to the streets to protest.

It was this measure which drew more criticism from the unions and other social partners than any other budget measures. With the measure being included in the amendments to a number of laws being tabled in parliament this evening, workers are worse off than they were with the first plans announced by the government in the budget.

Originally, Malta Council for Economic and Social development chairman Victor Scicluna had suggested a reduction in workers’ annual vacation leave but instead, the government announced that public holidays falling at weekends would not be compensated for by extra days’ leave.

For the public holiday compensation to be changed, the government would have had to amend the Employment and Industrial Relations Act, but this was strongly opposed by the unions and employers.

So instead, the government will be be amending the National and Public Holidays Act. This means that public holidays falling at a weekend will also lose their status of public holiday. As a result, not only will workers lose an extra day added to their leave, but people working on these days will not be paid extra for working on a public holiday.

Workers, along with their unions, will be taking to the streets to protest about this measure, which the unions say was eroding the working conditions achieved by the Maltese workers over the years. According to GWU secretary Tony Zarb, the workers will also complain about the way they are being treated by government.

The Malta Union of Teachers, the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses, the University of Malta Academic Staff Association, the Association of Pilots, the Union of Cabin Crew, the Union of Airline Engineers, the Union of Central Bank Employees, the Union of Architects and Engineers and the Union of Architects and Engineers of the Malta Environment and Planning Authority will be participating in the protest march.

Malta’s other main union – the Union Haddiema Maghqudin – said it will not be participating in the protest march, since it believes that the social partners should engage in serious social dialogue in order to try and reach a compromise on the matter rather than take to the streets in protest.

The protest march will take place at 5.30pm in Valletta. The unions have called on participants to keep the protest free of partisan politics and any trouble.