Employers pushing for COLA agreement before budget, but unions dig in heels

Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry President Helga Ellul has invited social partners to come to an agreement before the next budget on the “introduction of certain labour market flexibility and other measures that would go a long way to compensate for the adverse cost effect caused by COLA on employers.”

Ellul - who sits on an MCESD sub-committee that is currently preparing a paper on COLA – stressed that the Chamber “continues to believe that the COLA mechanism does need to be revisited, with a focus on ascertaining Malta’s competition position. This must be seen in the light of Malta showing early signs of emergence from a difficult economic period.”

She added however, that the Chamber “is not against the award of COLA, especially not to workers for whom COLA is needed to safeguard basic living standards.”

The news immediately irked trade unions, with UHM secretary general Gejtu Vella insisting that “COLA is there to stay!”

In comments to BusinessToday, Gejtu Vella said that COLA is a very important economic and social instrument.

He added that UHM acknowledges that where companies face problems and cannot cope with the increase in COLA, government should intervene and assist where necessary.

Gejtu Vella insisted that “COLA cannot be touched, as it is the right of every worker to be compensated for inflation, especially when government induced.”