The Union Haddiema Maghqudin yesterday broke the trade union silence over discussions held recently with the Prime Minister over the proposed water and electricity tariffs.

Confusion, consternation and controversy were the three words that probably sum up the way the issue was handled from beginning to end. The UHM yesterday issued its official comment on the new agreement after the government decided to publish the correspondence which Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi sent to unions on Monday night. The OPM made the letter public late on Wednesday night, coincidentally, well into the allocated time for the parliamentary debate on budgetary measures.

However, 11 other unions have also issued a statement in which they recognised that the new proposals will reduce the burden placed on families in comparison to the ‘final’ proposals put forward by the government on 28 October. A spokesman from the OPM yesterday said that the proposals sent to the unions, which were agreed on, are again “final”.

The same unions also said they decided the issue the statement, in which they are calling for another meeting with the government, after “the UHM went off on its own tack and declared that there was agreement between the government and all the involved unions when it had no authorisation to do so”.

In its statement yesterday, the UHM said it was a protagonist in hammering out the deal, both at a Malta Council for Social and Economic Development (MCESD) stage and in meetings with Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and his deputy Tonio Borg.

The points agreed on and included in the PM’s correspondence were: Meter charge for residences come into effect on 1 January, 2009 rather than 1 October, 2008; the current energy benefit to be extended to households where installation of three-phase electricity had to be made due to health, disability or similar reasons; residences wishing to switch from three-phase to single will be charged the tariff applicable on 30 September; the eco-reduction threshold is be amended so that for singles, it would rise from 20 per cent to 25 per cent while the benchmark of qualifying unit reductions would rise from 1,500 units of consumption to 2,000 units per year; for two or more person households, percentages would rise from 20 per cent to 25 per cent and from 10 per cent to 15 cent; the benchmark of units which would qualify for the reduction would rise to 1,750 from 1,500 per person per year; future changes to the power tariffs would be handled by the Resources Authority according to the rules of the European Union and domestic legislation.

The UHM said it continue to work within the MCESD to ensure that any potential revisions will have as least as possible an impact on pensioners and workers. The UHM said that it was in a position to verify that all points had been agreed on with the government because it had already made its calculations prior to the issue of the PM’s correspondence. The UHM also said it hoped that social dialogue would return to the MCESD, especially in view of the world economic situation.