The General Workers’ Union protest held in Valletta last week showed how indignant the people are at the way the government is treating them.

The thousands of workers who gathered last Thursday wanted to express their disdain at the fact that it is always the lower-end classes that suffer the most.

As GWU secretary-general Tony Zarb rightly explained, since the last election the government has added extra burdens on workers and their families that are hard to sustain for people with a low income.

The increase in Value Added Tax from 15 per cent to 18 per cent and the recent raising of the electricity and water surcharge have made life more difficult for us. All this is apart from the fact that this year we will be losing four days leave because of the measures introduced in the budget for 2005.

The GWU is right to insist that the government must take corrective measures. The workers are right to support a union that has always looked after their interests.

M. Farrugia

Birkirkara