UHM Voice of the Workers CEO Josef Vella said that the agreement which will be signed later today which will establish an increase of €8 per week in the national minimum wage, is not a solution to precarious work.

Speaking at a UHM event earlier today, Mr Vella said that the union has managed to make its voice heard over the minimum wage adjustment. He said that it was only UHM and the Malta Employers Association who presented proposal papers on the matter. It was also through UHM's insistence that the agreement will also set up a commission to revise the minimum wage every four years.

Mr Vella commented on the local political situation, describing it as an obscure cloud looming over the country. "It is very shameful for me to have to start every meeting with our foreign counterparts asking me to explain what's going on in the country."

He explained that UHM felt it had to participate in the latest protest against corruption because the union truly is the voice of the workers. "I do not have proof, it is not my job to do so. But I am still seriously worried about the local political situation."

Recalling last week's events, when blogger and journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia alleged that Egrant belonged to the wife of the Prime Minister. "I was in utter disbelief when I saw the comments of the Police Commissioner. It was simply surreal. Saying that you know what your work is not enough. You have to do it."

His presence at the protest, Mr Vella explained, had nothing to do with politics. "Let's not affiliate the union with one part or the other. Did you ever come here and heard any of us tell you which party to vote?" he asked the union members.

"Some of you come and ask me, concerned, if we are working with the Nationalist Party. I don't worry about this. Don't forget that before the 2013 elections, some thought we were working with the Labour Party. This is what being independent truly means. We can work with different parties, but we are not puppets."

UHM CEO also commented on the Wasteserv agreement signed today, and insisted that his union does not switch on when one particular party is in power, "our engines are always running."

Mr Vella also made reference to the agreement which the government signed with Vitals Group Healthcare for the acquisition of the Gozo hospital. "The government expected me to sign an agreement which I never even saw. After months of asking the government to hand us a copy of the agreement, we realise that what was published was a censored version. I stood in utter disbelief looking at empty pages in the contract."