As Malta’s political parties are busy putting the final touches on their electoral manifestos, General Workers’ Union secretary-general Tony Zarb is adamant that parties should not be making promises to the electorate that they do not intend or able to honour.
Speaking to The Malta Independent recently following the publication of the union’s suggestions for political parties’ electoral manifestos, Mr Zarb was adamant that if such promises are indeed made and not lived up to during the next government’s legislature, “they will find the GWU vigilant and ready to make them honour their obligations”.
The union last month presented a lengthy and comprehensive set of proposals for the parties’ electoral manifestos, of which four are expected. So far, Alternattiva Demokratika has published its manifesto, while Azzjoni Nazzjonali is expected to do so on Saturday. The two main parties – the Nationalist Party and the Malta Labour Party – are expected to publish their own electoral pledges within the coming days.
Party manifestos, the GWU has argued, should constitute clear, comprehensive five-year plans on how to bring the country forward.
But integral to the GWU’s train of thought is that through the publication of a five-year vision, Malta’s social partners would themselves be able to formulate their own strategies in line with the government’s vision – providing for a new and mutually complementary relationship.
The five-year plan, Mr Zarb says, should address multiple fundamental issues such as the economy, investment, public finances, fiscal policies, industrial policies and relations, social justice, environmental and educational policies, health and the quality of life of the Maltese people.
The initiative would also mean no more budget surprises for the social partners, who would know what is being projected and planned for each year of the next legislature. As such, the social partners would be able to draw up their own plans for the period.
The GWU’s document, itself drawn up over a six-month period of consultations, is vast and addresses practically the entire spectrum of Maltese society since, as Mr Zarb says, “when you speak of workers, you also speak of their families”. The thinking, he explains, is a new concept emerging over recent years, with workers’ families increasingly participating in union-organised courses, training schemes and other activities.
“So far,” Mr Zarb commented, “the response to our serious and concrete proposals has been wholly positive, and we expect Malta’s political parties will be reviewing them well and including them in their manifestos.
“A new government must commit itself to making a pact with the people for a five-year working plan, and also work according to that plan. It is important here that target dates and costs of projects and initiatives are abided by, while governance – in which clear, accountable and transparent policies are formulated – is also of the utmost importance.”
Among the main proposals is that all cases of corruption, no matter how small, need to be investigated, and that consultations between the government and the social partners should be held without any hidden agendas and with all cards placed visibly on the table.
Speaking of which, such discussions, particularly those leading up to budgets, are carried out within the remit of the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development – where the government sits alongside social partners as a council member.
But the GWU disagrees with the current make-up of the council and insists that non-governmental organisations, the youth and Gozo should also be given a voice, while the government should relinquish its active role.
The government, Mr Zarb says, is facing a conflict of interest in that it holds the executive power to implement decisions, but also plays an active role in formulating proposals. He does agree that government experts should, by all means, attend to give advice but that they should step away from their current role.
With the Malta Shipyards facing an uncertain future at the year’s end, when state subsidies will be stopped under EU regulations, Mr Zarb is adamant that the yards have a place in the country and that their staff complement is also sustainable.
“The GWU,” he says, “is ready to discuss immediately with a new government a holistic plan to see how shipyards can move forward, which can be done provided it is run in a better way.
“For example, one of the things we do not see at the shipyards today is enough contracts for repairs. Of course we need conversion and yacht contracts, but the business cannot survive on these alone. What we need is to focus more on the shipyards’ core business of ship repair, while they also need fresh investment with which to go forward.”
Just last month the GWU held a meeting with an individual interested and ready to invest in the shipyards – an area where the GWU is actively trying to facilitate.
Encouraging more women into the workplace, an area where Malta falls desperately behind its fellow EU member states, is another area of concern for the GWU.
“We need to have important decisions on how more women could be encouraged to join the workplace,” Mr Zarb commented. “We have spoken about this before and it has not yet been addressed properly so we are saying it again. There is a dire need for cheaper but quality child care centres. It is futile for a woman to work in a factory for Lm70 a week, but then have to turn around and pay a child care centre at the industrial estate where she works Lm50 a week to look after her child.”
The issue of illegal employment is another crucial point, where irregular migrants and irregular workers from eastern Europe are working under “miserable and illegal conditions”. The practice, he says, also ends up detracting from conditions offered to Maltese workers, who are offered lower wages since they are in competition with illegal and cheap labourers.
The GWU has a stern message for the next government when it comes to industrial relations: do not interfere in industrial relations between unions and employers. Mr Zarb cites a case in point as that of public holidays falling at weekends, where unions had collective agreements with private companies, which the government ordered to be voided.
“The next government,” he says, “has to give back the public holidays it has taken away, and cannot continue to ignore the International Labour Organisation.”
New working methods creeping into the Maltese workplace, such as that of flexicurity for example, according to Mr Zarb, need to be thoroughly vetted by the government through consultations and introduced only following agreements with Malta’s unions to ensure no undue shocks are given to Maltese workers.
On the touchy subject of official union recognition at workplaces, Mr Zarb says there needs to be a serious discussion at MCESD level, where regulations on awarding such status are laid out. The issue, he said, creates unnecessary friction between unions. The problem, he says, lies mainly in companies in which the government is the owner, while such issues rarely crop up in the private sector.
Malta’s health and safety practices also need to be bolstered, Mr Zarb said, and the government also needs to beef up its funding for the Occupational Health and Safety Authority, which, he says, with just 25 inspectors, has half the staff complement it needs to do its job correctly.
Consumers, Mr Zarb said, also need to be protected and the GWU has suggested that a professional study be carried out six months following Malta’s eurozone membership, which would independently assess price fluctuations in goods and services.
Mr Zarb contends that 60,000 Maltese are currently living below the poverty line, and that that number is constantly growing. “The problem is bigger than it seems,” he comments. “What is needed is a strong element of solidarity and social justice, which we have not yet seen enough of, in which those who have more help those who have less. We expect a new government to embark on concrete action in this respect.”
In a similar vein, Mr Zarb explained how the elderly are continually swelling in their ranks and that the one-off financial measure in the last budget should become a permanent fixture. The next government, he added, should also produce incentives for the creation of public private partnerships for the setting up of homes for the elderly in villages across the islands.
The idea is that such homes would be smaller but greater in numbers, allowing the elderly to remain in their own locales where they are most at home.
Additionally, the GWU has proposed the percentage of pensions taken out for care and lodging at state homes be brought back down to 60 per cent from the current 80 per cent.
One of the union’s proposals for education would see students being given more hands-on work experience while studying.
Another measure aimed at the disabled, who the GWU insists need to be fully integrated into both society and the labour market, would see companies fully abiding by their legal requirement that two per cent of their staff complement needs to be comprised of people with disability.