The government will stand by its decision to remove vacation leave in compensation for public holidays falling on a weekend and pointed out that the International Labour Organisation objected to a part of Malta’s laws that was introduced by the Malta Labour Party administration in 1975.
In reply to a General Workers’ Union statement, which said that the ILO had upheld a GWU request on the issue, the government said that it (the ILO) was not objecting to the present government’s decision, but to the laws amended in 1975 by the MLP.
The government said that the ILO made it clear that it was its (the government’s) prerogative to decide, as a matter of public policy, which days are public holidays and which are not.
The government said the ILO was objecting to, and wanted to see changed, a provision that was inserted into law by the 1975 MLP government through Act XXX of 1975 on National and Other Holidays.
The government said that in 1975, the MLP removed 21 September, Independence Day, from the list of public holidays. This was followed up with the removal of the feast of St Paul, St Joseph’s, Corpus Christi, Mnarja, 8 September Victory Day, The Immaculate Conception and All Saints Day.
The government said it was worthy to note that the GWU, which was the government of the day’s right hand at the time, never made any form of objection to the move.
It was in this law that the MLP made the provision objected to by the ILO. The government said that if anyone had complained at any time after 1975 and before the GWU, the ILO’s decision and recommendations would have been exactly the same. The government also queried why the GWU never made an objection prior to 2005.
The government pointed out that it was the PN government, on 14 March 1989, that reinstated public holidays removed by the MLP in the spirit of reconciliation. The government reiterated that all it did in March 2005 was remove leave entitlement for holidays falling on a weekend. The government stressed that the ILO made it amply clear that it was not contesting the validity of this provision.
The government also pointed out that throughout 2004, it worked with unions and social partners in an attempt to forge and seal a social pact, but it was only the GWU that decided that no agreement could be reached.
The government also said it decided on the course of action that it did so that workers could at least still benefit from holiday pay when they work on weekend public holidays rather than removing individual days outright.
In conclusion, the government said that it would stand by its decision, but also said that it would continue to see dialogue with social partners on major decisions. It also said that it was committed to amending the 1975 MLP provision that the ILO is objecting to.
The government also said that it was successive PN governments that decided to ratify ILO conventions. MLP governments, it said, had never ratified any such convention for the benefit of workers, even when the General Workers’ Union actually sat on the Cabinet.