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Karl Schembri
Government is bound to face a legal quagmire over its budget plan to remove workers’ leave entitlement for public holidays that fall on weekends as the unions are warning they will defend collective agreements in force when the labour law is changed.
Industrial relations expert Dr Ian Spiteri Bailey, a candidate for the PN at the last European Parliament election told MaltaToday that what the government has planned in the budget is morally and legally wrong.
His statement contrasts starkly with what both Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and Finance Parliamentary Secretary Tonio Fenech said yesterday when they made it clear it was government’s intention to impose the new measure on all workers by going beyond scrapping clause 17 of the Employment and Industrial Relations Act.
Fenech also admitted to
MaltaToday that government was still checking how to implement the measure across the board given that employees covered by collective agreements in force would still enjoy the holidays.
Parliamentary Secretary Tonio Fenech told MaltaToday “our intention is to have the measure applied uniformly for everyone, at least that’s what we’re trying to do. It wouldn’t make sense to have discrepancies. The measure will only be effective in boosting productivity if it applies to everyone.”
Fenech’s comments betrayed the government’s lack of preparation for the implementation of a budget measure that has greatly divided unions and employers.
The Prime Minister’s declaration that government would change industrial law unilaterally has antagonized unions even further.
Even the Union Haddiema Maghqudin, government’s most traditionally friendly union, has warned the budget plan was unacceptable.
Ian Spiteri Bailey, who is a legal advisor to the UHM, told MaltaToday that government was morally and legally wrong to scrap clause 17 without holding any consultation.
“Government is morally wrong to just remove clause 17 overnight when it took some two years of consultation with trade unions to amend the Industrial Relations Act,” Spiteri Bailey said. “But above all, government is making a big mistake (qed jiccewwec) in pressing forward with its plan because it will be unable to implement its measure effectively. Even though it has the power to scrap the clause, collective agreements remain untouchable until they expire.”
Spiteri Bailey said this meant that government’s plan to boost production through this measure is doomed to fail for the coming years.
“Government is bound to face a lot of problems,” Spiteri Bailey said. “Unions are going to take the issue to the International Labour Organisation, given that Malta is a signatory to an important convention which protects collective agreements. The only solution for government at this point is to go back to the discussion table and seek the unions’ agreement.”
But Tonio Fenech was adamant in supporting government’s plan. “We’ve discussed this for more than a year during the social pact negotiations, so it’s unfair for unions to say they have not been consulted. The fact that we haven’t reached a social pact doesn’t mean that everything stops there because at this rate we might only agree on some measures in five years’ time.”
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