The Malta Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise supports the appeals made by other employers’ organisations and stresses the importance of heeding the national interest by all the stakeholders, including workers’ representatives.

Chamber director-general Kevin J. Borg said this with regard to the recent debate on public holidays and which the Chamber has been closely following, including the developments arising from the ILO Governing Body’s decision with respect to the measure introduced by the government last year.

In January 2005, the government had deemed that public holidays falling on weekend would no longer be added to vacation leave.

The chamber said that this measure was introduced with a view to stimulate national competitiveness and investment attraction. Indeed, before establishing themselves in Malta, many European and other international investors benchmark the number of public/national holidays and leave entitlement, among other criteria. “No country or company owes Malta a living.

Capital is free to move across the EU 25 member states and beyond and will only settle where the largest profits can be made, in the shortest space of time and with least harassment”, the chamber director-general said.

He insisted that workers in the private sector were those who were mostly feeling the pressures of international competition.

“They would be likely to make small sacrifices if this meant that their jobs were being safeguarded.

It is vital that workers in other sectors show their solidarity.

It is important to underline that this is an issue of economic and competitive restructuring which must go on continuously.

This is about understanding how change can transform us into a better workforce and a better platform from where business is made”, Mr Borg said.

The chamber also supports the Prime Minister’s determined stance that the government will seek other avenues to ensure that our economy remains competitive, even if this would entail the elimination of some public holidays.

Other options are not perceived reasonable enough by the Chamber, either because they would run counter to the ILO opinion or because they are complicated and discriminatory,” concluded Mr Borg.

The chamber and other employer bodies met with Education Minister Louis Galea last week to discuss the situation.