The Confederation of Malta Trade Unions has dismissed the Malta Employers’ Association’s proposals on sick leave as frivolous, arguing that the association’s approach “may verge on the illegal or on what is borderline.”

Last week, the MEA had argued that employees should not be eligible for sick leave if they suffer from self-inflicted ailments, mentioning sunstrokes, hangovers and sports injuries as examples.

The MEA’s proposals, which have been submitted for discussion at the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development, have proven to be controversial, with trade unions expressing strong disagreement.

The CMTU, which is made up of the Malta Union of Bank Employees, Union Haddiema Maghqudin, the Medical Association of Malta, Union Haddiema Università ta’ Malta, the Malta Union of Professional Psychologists, the Lotto Receivers Union and the Malta Chamber of Pharmacists, has joined the chorus.

The confederation said that it was surprised at the MEA’s decision to call on the MCESD to discuss its proposals instead of the Employment Relations Board, “where exchanges of views between social partners on changes to employment legislation are normally conducted.”

It also said that whilst it agreed with social partners and the government on the need to improve existing employment and industrial relations legislation, it completely disagreed with the MEA’s ‘frivolous’ approach.

“In this regard, whilst the CMTU declares itself as being absolutely against abuse be it coming from an individual employee or be it collectively, the Confederation expects that the MEA declares itself against any employer’s exploitation tactics which sometimes verge on illegal practices complemented by a serious lack of enforcement be it legislative or sometimes by the MEA itself when it is powerless when dealing with its own members,” the CMTU said.

It said that it would have been much wiser to put any draft proposal through the ERB, “allowing preliminary sensible and constructive debate prior to escalating it to any other level.”