GRTU ‘won’t back any political party’ in general elections

Report by Jacob Borg

The Chamber of SMEs will be hedging its bets during the electoral campaign, after GRTU director-general Vince Farrugia declared that the small business lobby will not be backing either Labour or the Nationalist Party.

"Past mistakes will not be repeated during this election, and the GRTU shall strive to remain politically neutral," Farrugia said, in reference to the union's past support of PN policies on EU membership or its support of Labour back in 1996 over the abolition of VAT.

Presenting the GRTU's proposals for the political parties, Farrugia said the Chamber wants to see a two-thirds parliamentary majority on taxation legislation being included in their parties' electoral manifesto.

"The major [sic] class is already carrying a heavy tax burden considering Maltese income levels."

The GRTU, which also wants to abolish prison sentencing for administrative VAT defaulters, said that it was proposing the setting-up of a "crisis fund" that would help small businesses finding it had to pay administrative fees and taxes.

"Many SMEs fell behind during the recession, falling foul of the draconian measures in relation to unpaid VAT fines, which in some cases translate directly into jail time."

Malta's bankruptcy regime was said to be "amongst the worst in Europe", with many young entrepreneurs blacklisted for life if their first business venture does succeed.

Turning to the issue of poverty, Farrugia insisted that social responsibilities should not be shifted onto the employer. "Three-fourths of poverty in Malta is attributable to poor skill levels. In remedy to this, various 'skills councils' should be set up at the sectoral level, in tandem with academia and industry."

"Over 12,000 foreigners currently occupy a wide variety of jobs, simply due to the fact that the Maltese population is lacking in certain skill sets."

Farrugia also said the first quarter of 2013 will see a quarter of "lost growth for Maltese SMEs" due to parliament's failure to approve the budget.

The GRTU director-general was critical of both the Speaker of the House and President George Abela for their failure to bring both sides of the House to an agreement on the budget.  "A money bill under the guidance of the Speaker should have been passed before parliament was dissolved, bringing together the core elements of the budget agreed upon by both parties. We shouldn't play with the economy."

Farrugia expressed his disappointment at the "weak decision" handed down by the government in relation to the gas distribution issue.

"Industrial action should be protected by law," Farrugia said. "We are in the year 2013 yet a social partner is not able to take action to protect its members. The 30- odd gas distributors are potentially liable to paying 10% of their €21 million turnover in the way of fines should industrial action be taken."

"The GRTU is against protectionism, but certain infrastructural limitation unique to the Maltese islands do exist, but the current situation of one distributor selling gas from different suppliers will not have a large negative impact on consumers."

Turning to fuel prices, Farrugia admitted that the "prices fetched by Enemalta on the international market were not the sole determinant of the monthly petrol prices issued by the regulator, as these prices often include other costs of supply negotiated by GRTU on behalf of its members."