The government really needs to learn the definition of consultation, the Union Haddiema Maghqudin said yesterday, in reaction to the way the utility bill tariff proposals were put forward at a Malta Council for Economic and Social Development meeting this week.
Union secretary general Gejtu Vella said the Prime Minister promised those on the MCESD on 28 July that they would be consulted about the proposals. “At the same time, the consultants KPMG were in the process of drawing up the reform plan. They spent four to five months studying their options and all the while, we were expecting to be involved,” he said.
To add insult to injury, the partners thought they were going to discuss the Budget 2009 proposals during the last meeting only to be faced with a fait accompli to which they were expected to come up with alternatives in a matter of days when KPMG had taken months to do so.
“The government needs to learn what consultation is. We cannot continue with the current trend of attending a discussion meeting, pose for a few photographs and then leave after giving a few comments to the press. That is not consultation,” he said.
He said the union expected the government to at least compile a socio-economic impact assessment. “They did not bother and so the MCESD has taken it upon itself to have one drafted. The price increases are quite frankly exorbitant and we could be looking at a situation where thousands of workers lose their jobs,” said Mr Vella.
He said that the plan to review the tariffs from the current system with the 95 per cent surcharge slapped on was simply too hasty. “And in addition, the government dumped the copies of the report in the MCESD’s lap and are now talking as if it will be implemented come what may as from 1 October,” he said.
He said the MCESD was united in its stance on this matter and that the only way to sort out the impasse would be to return to the discussion table. “All the budget proposals we have come up with are now redundant. We go out and speak to people and get to know their concerns and problems. The government needs to do the same. We could be looking at thousands of jobs being lost, people not having a basic standard of living and general breakdown,” he said.
It seemed that the government was intent on honouring its political promise to slash the deficit ratio by 2010. “But equally, if it is adamant about sticking to that promise, it should stick to other promises it has made,” he said.
Union president Gejtu Tanti gave some figures of how the UHM expected the proposals to impact on Maltese families, but emphasised that these were only preliminary as they had only a day to analyse a report that was months in the making. The UHM said that it took into account higher rent for water and electricity meters as well as water and electricity consumption. It said that a family of two could expect to pay e374.83 per year extra (e7.21 per week), a family of four could expect to pay e465.92 per year extra (e8.96 per week) and a family of five to pay e532.46 extra per year (e10.24 per week).