The general secretary of the General Workers’ Union said the budget measures included positive points, but it was expecting the removal of an anomaly the government itself had created three years ago, when it deprived workers of public holidays which fell on a weekend.

According to the government, Tony Zarb said, the government had reached the ultimate. Once that was so, it expected the government to respect the decision handed down by the International Labour Organisation, by giving to the workers the days of public holidays it had deprived them of which fell on a weekend.

Among the positive points the union mentioned were the full increase given to pensioners for the cost of living, which the GWU had long been asking for. Regarding income tax the government had chosen a system through which those earning Lm4,500 would save only Lm30.

The cost of living increase was expected, but the GWU felt that inflation had gone up by much higher than Lm1.50 per week. It was also positive that the government was extending the children’s allowance to encompass all children.

But, in spite of all the measures announced, not all sectors of society would gain. Those earning under Lm4,000 would still suffer hardship.

Once the country was doing so well, the union added, all workers were expecting the government to ease one of the biggest burdens they were carrying, which was the surcharge on water and electricity bills. This was not done, so the surcharge would remain one of the main problems workers would still have to carry.

The budget had addressed certain problems, but workers were far from getting back what they had contributed during years of sacrifices imposed by the government so that, in the words of the Prime Minister, the country would reach the summit.

The union noted that the government was helping young couples who would be buying their first property. But if the country had reached the top it was thanks to the workers, though the budget did not recognise this. The workers had carried much of the burden over the years, but it was other categories of society who would be better off in the coming 12 months.