Today is budget day. Finance Minister Clyde Caruana will head to Parliament and unveil the government’s proposed measures for next year.

Over the past weeks unions, employers organisations, the opposition and others have issued their proposals for the budget. Some of these ideas could be taken up, others have already been shot down. For example, Caruana had said that while there will not be any new taxes, the government will not remove or reduce taxes either. Thus proposals made by the social partners in that regard will not be taken up.

The government has already pledged to keep on subsidising energy, which is important as many would suffer financially if this were not the case.  But people will eagerly wait to see what is planned, and what would be in it for them. This year, however, we must take the aforementioned subsidy into consideration. Thus we shouldn’t expect as much as we normally do. At the same time the government seriously needs to keep an eye on the deficit. This will not be an easy budget for Minister Caruana to balance out.

This newsroom has written about the proposals made by associations and unions in the past, but two particular ones recently put forward by the UHM - Voice of the Workers and the General Workers Union recently, merit further study and consideration.

The General Workers Union is seeking the option for workers to work a 40-hour week over four days. The union said that if there is an agreement between trade unions for employees and employers, then it should be considered as an option. It also said that if the place of work operates seven days a week, then the employees would either have the option to work 10 hours a day from Monday to Thursday, or the option to work 10 hours a day from Friday to Sunday. It said that those working from Friday to Sunday will work for thirty hours and get paid for 40 hours.

This is an interesting proposal that could work in some sectors, but not in all. For those sectors it could work in, this would mean that employees would have more time to spend with their families, or to rest, which could mean increased productivity as well. On the other hand, one would also need to take into consideration the possible fatigue of working such long hours during work days. This is why it needs to be studied further.

In a separate proposal, the UHM- Voice of the Workers said that following a study, the minimum wage in Malta should increase to 50% of the gross average wage over a period of years. It argued that at present, the minimum wage does not even meet the minimum requirements in the European Union’s Adequate Minimum Wage Directive.

There is a lot to say about this proposal from both sides of the argument. First of all, it is doubtful that people on the minimum wage could live a relaxed life with the prices that there are today. But, raising the minimum wage might result in prices rising, thus cancelling the effect. The COLA mechanism tries to even out inflation, although in the past there have been arguments that it was too low, and this year employers are concerned with its effects. But back on point. The proposal for a minimum wage rise is one that merits serious study, both in terms of whether people on such a wage can truly live a decent life today, and also in terms of the possible after effects of such a move.