NEWS | Wednesday, 26 November 2008

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Charlot Zahra
Government has presented the trade unions with the technical workings about the proposals that the two sides had discussed during Saturday’s marathon meetings with Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi at the Auberge de Castille.
Sources close to the discussions told MaltaToday that the four-page document containing the technical workings was sent to the unions late on Monday evening, at around 10:15 pm, therefore keeping just on time with the deadline the government had set itself to report back to the trade unions.
Speaking during a union seminar yesterday afternoon, Union Haddiema Maghqudin (UHM) secretary-general Gejtu Vella confirmed that the UHM had received a four-page document from the PM which showed that the government had accepted proposals made by the UHM and the other trade unions on the water and electricity tariffs.
“The UHM is expecting a positive revision of the tariffs in light of the document submitted by the Prime Minister,” Vella announced.
However, Vella complained that that the matter how the government had dealt with the utility tariffs’ issue still called into question the issue of social dialogue.
“This matter could have been agreed without the unions having had to organise street protests and without the uncertainty that the issue had created,” Vella insisted.
On his part, speaking to MaltaToday yesterday evening, General Workers’ Union (GWU) secretary-general Tony Zarb confirmed that the union had received the document from the PM, however he would give scant details about the government’s response.
“Yes, we have received the Prime Mininster’s document with the government’s proposals. On our part, we will evaluate that document and then we will issue our position about the matter,” Zarb told Malta Today.
Asked whether the Government has accepted the proposals made by the trade unions in their nine-point joint proposal presented to the PM last Monday after the joint manifestation against the utility tariffs on 14 November, the GWU boss said that the union was not in a position to reveal more as it was still evaluating the document.
The main proposal made by the trade unions of postponing the introduction of the tariffs to the beginning of next year has not been accepted by the government, therefore the introduction of the new tariffs will proceed as initially scheduled, that is, backdated from 1 October this year.
However, the government seems to have accepted the other main proposal made by the trade unions during their discussions with Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, that is, the postponement of the increase in the meter fee to the beginning of March next year.

czahra@mediatoday.com.mt

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