PN did not consult with social partners on maternity and paternity leave proposal

The Nationalist Party did not consult with any of the social partners and trade unions before proposing an increase in maternity leave and paternity leave, it turns out.

PN leader Simon Busuttil pledged that maternity leave would increase from 18 to 22 weeks and that four weeks paternity leave would be introduced.

The Presidents of the Malta Employers Association, the Malta Chamber of SMEs (GRTU), the Chamber of Commerce, the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association, UHM Voice of the Workers, the General Workers Union all told the newsroom that they had found out about the proposal following the announcement.

Malta Employers Association President Joseph Farrugia said that the MEA will be releasing their proposals in the coming days, but said it had to be seen how the PN would make up for the extra pay.

The Chamber of Commerce also said that they would be introducing proposals in the coming days which safeguard Malta’s competitiveness and in particular by increasing employment rather than making it more difficult and complicated to hire people.

The union presidents also called on both political parties to start presenting proposals that are achievable. “Parties should refrain from entering a race to out-bid each other with the electorate and consider each promise on the basis of competitiveness and sustainability,” a spokesperson said.

MHRA President Tony Zahra said that the parties needed to see how they intended to fund the numerous ‘hand-out’-like proposals they are putting forward.

Referring to both this proposal and the PL proposal on public holidays, Mr Zahra said that these initiatives could have serious effects on the competitiveness of Maltese businesses. “What happens when a person decides to use all this leave at once? Are we going to have a person who won’t come in for a month or more?”

Josef Vella, President of UHM Voice of the Workers, said that the union was in favour of the proposal and complimented the proposal for the free transport, and other initiatives.

The General Workers Union said that it welcomed the PN’s proposal and is prepared to discuss the proposal with social partners.

GRTU CEO Abigail Mamo said that the union would need to see the details of these measures and agreed that it should be reached at MCESD level. “However, GRTU will reserve the right to object to this once discussions start should the impact on employers be negative.

“The proposal states that government will carry the additional cost which is something welcome however one must understand that the burden on employers goes beyond that. Employers, especially micro companies, struggle with human resources when their employees are on maternity leave and they resort to different solutions to mitigate this, either through temporary employment or reorganisation of work.

“Temporary employment necessitates another pay and reorganisation of work increases work pressures and lowers productivity. The reality is therefore that even if government pays for the additional weeks of maternity/paternity there is an impact on the workplace and this impact will be carried by employers for an additional month as this is being proposed. GRTU will expect that a solution will be found to compensate employers in full and for this allowance to be extended to self-employed.”