The government said Monday that contrary to reports, there is a capping of pensions for doctors and consultants.

The contributory pension is capped according to the Social Secutiry Act, the government said.

It was denying a report on Times of Malta, which said that the pension for doctors and consultants was not capped. This had prompted the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses to demand similar treatment, with the Malta Employers Association also warning that this was creating a precedent.

The Malta Employers Association had earlier said that the public sector is setting dangerous precedents which could destabilise industrial relations and raise public expenditure to unsustainable levels.

“The news that as part of a pre-electoral deal, government has conceded uncapped pensions to consultants is going to send ripples across other grades, and potentially spill over to the private sector as employees will feel as being treated unequally compared to some public sector employees,” the MEA said in a statement.

It was reported on Monday that nurses were taking industrial action after the government refused a request that their two-thirds pension is uncapped like that of other consultants. The Medical Association of Malta, in a reactionary statement, denied that doctors have uncapped pensions. Doctors have capped pensions like all other government employees, MAM said.

“Third tier pensions are private pensions open to all citizens of Malta, and can be made only with private financial operators on an individual basis,” the MAM said.

In its statement, the MEA said that there will certainly be pressure – as is already happening in the case of nurses – to remove the capping for other professions who feel similarly entitled. If groups of employees are to be given recognition for higher responsibility and productivity, this should be reflected in their salaries, not pensions, it said.

Awarding uncapped pensions to a privileged class is highly discriminatory and unfair to those who have paid social security throughout their working careers and end up with a pension which is capped at a miserable level, the MEA said.

“Another hot issue is the relocation of Air Malta employees to the public sector. Besides the burden on the taxpayer of having to finance the cost of these employees, given that many areas in the public sector are already overstaffed with employees who have been lured from the private sector, the promise to such employees that they will retain their working conditions at Air Malta is unbelievable,” it continued.

The Association had warned that the ‘side’ agreement reached with Air Malta employees in this respect was an industrial relations blunder, and it remains to be seen how the principle of equal pay for work of equal value is going to be applied in such cases.

The MEA reiterated its position that these employees should be offered job opportunities in the private sector.

“These precedents are creating an environment where employees in the private sector are made to feel that they are children of a lesser god, and are also raising public expenditure to potentially unsustainable levels,” it concluded.