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10 NEWS maltatoday | THURSDAY • 24 MARCH 2022 NEWS MATTHEW VELLA THE Malta Chamber and the General Workers' Union have agreed to work together to pres- ent to the government a common position on key pension reforms. The stakeholders want a re- placement of the existing 'all or nothing approach' to early retirement with a flexi-employ- ment approach which allows workers to opt out the 40-hour week whilst remaining active in the labour market. To ensure the flexi-employ- ment approach does not become an exit route from retiring at the statutory retirement age, the pension for pro-rata workers should be at 50% for those retir- ing at 61. 60% for those retiring at 62, 70% at 63, and 85% at 64. Persons who select flexi-em- ployment for retirement would have to work for a minimum set of hours, established through a formal contract with employers and registered with Jobsplus to benefit from the drawing down of the retirement pension. The two bodies also said the top-up incentive should be re- placed by a positive, rather than negative, actuarial rate so that more persons are incentivised to remain fully active in the la- bour market and defer the draw- down of their pension. They also called on the gov- ernment to implemented a 2015 Strategic Review on pensions that encourages workers to defer retirement, but with a more ag- gressively positive actuarial rate for their pension. They also said taxation for post-retirement employment should not deter pensioners from continued active employment. "Both The Malta Chamber and the Union strongly underline that a carefully designed work- place pension based on the prin- ciples of opt-in on employment with the choice of opt-out is in- troduced in Malta. Such volun- tary opt-in on employment pen- sions schemes with the choice of an opt-out can be designed in a manner that creates no social tensions or adverse impacts on both employers and employers," the two bodies said. They said employers must be nudged to contribute on behalf of their employees into volun- tary pensions; while employees who earn below a certain income should be excluded from opt-in so that no negative pressures are placed on their disposal income, while keeping their right to opt- in should they wish. "Each employee will have the right to opt-out or suspend their contribution. The contribution that an employee will pay, which will continue to be subject to a fiscal incentive, will be the an- nual minimum requested by the pension provider selected by the employer or that selected by the employee," the two bodies said in their recommendations. "The only obligation to be placed on the employer is that of presenting information on retirement on the engagement of an employee, enrolling an employee in the pension provid- er selected by it or that chosen by an employee, managing the monthly contribution payment deducted from the employee's wage; and transferrin this con- tribution to the selected pension scheme provider." They also said that the pension scheme should be introduced incrementally over five years, in- itially targeting large employers and subsequently rolling it out to micro and small enterprises. Chamber and GWU join forces in pension proposals to government Members of the Chamber of Commerce and General Workers Union addressing the press outside the House of Representatives MATTHEW VELLA THE Malta Women's Lobby has expressed disappointment that women not in employment and doing unpaid work in their fami- ly, were not considered deserving recipients for the COVID stim- ulus cheque distributed to the electorate in the last days. "This shows that women doing this valuable work in the fami- ly are taken for granted and are largely ignored, whilst the value of their work and their contribu- tion to society is not appreciat- ed," MWL chairperson Dr Anna Borg said. "The Malta Women's Lobby urges all political parties to stop ignoring half of the population, whilst we insist that whoever is in government implements the proposals in the Femifesto," Borg said. The Malta's Women Lobby, an umbrella organisation of 14 NGOs, issued its own 'femifes- to' for the 2022 elections, noting that women victims of violence have been waiting years before they are allocated a date for their court hearings. "Justice is hard to come by with such delays. There seems to be a reluctance to issue temporary protection or emergency barring orders in cases of violence against women. This is putting women victims of violence more at risk and leaving them without protec- tion." The MWL also said reconciling paid work and family still causes a lot of stress for parents, especially mothers. "Children get sick and parents are only allowed 15 hours of ur- gent family leave a year. Fathers get just one day of paternity leave, and parental leave is unpaid re- sulting in caring gaps between women and men that continue to discriminate against women. Whilst during the pandemic, flex- ible work was encouraged, now that the COVID measures have been relaxed, many workers have been ordered back to their place of work. This has had a negative im- pact on workers, especially those who have a family, and because it involves more commuting, it also works against the environment." The lobby also said women try- ing to open up a business still face more hurdles than men, and that pay and pension gaps are on the increase. "The more a woman is educated, the more the discrep- ancy there is in the pay. In spite of having more female graduates for many years, the number of women in top positions remains disappointingly low." The MWL supports quotas and sanctions on the private sector to ensure that, at least, 30% of board members are women, or are from the least represented gender. The lobby also complained that pro-choice activities were being demonised and threatened while the Labour Party in government was attempting to legalise prosti- tution, which largely works against women and in favour of pimps and traffickers. "Not criminalising the buyer fuels a rape culture, in- creases violence on women, and adds to the existing inequalities between women and men." The MWL wants the State to introduce the Equality Model which criminalises the buyers, and reduces the demand for traf- ficked women and girls. The MWL has also called for all worker, both women and men re- gardless of their status - parents or not – to work flexibly in terms of choosing their working hours and working from home, where possible. It called for increased paid pa- ternity leave for fathers and gen- erous paid parental leave for both parents, with reserved quotas for both so as to close the caring gaps between women and men. "Government should fund these incentives so as not to burden employers. Workers – parents or not – should be granted leave to be able to care for their sick or disabled family members." ADPD candidate Dr Melissa Bagley has expressed the Green Party's commitment to work on the issues mentioned in the Femifesto. "During this meeting with the MWL, it was clear that there is a lot of overlap between our view of how sexism and misogyny is negatively affecting women and girls in society, and on most of the targeted steps needed to tack- le this. As ADPD we commit and look forward to continuing this conversation in the future, it does not stop at the election." Party Chairperson, Carmel Cacopardo commented: "I was disappointed to hear that oth- er parties did not welcome the women's lobby's invitation for a dialogue. Dialogue is one of the fundamental needs in our socie- ty. If we are not even able to listen to each other, how are we going to work together, how are we go- ing to achieve political consensus and tackle stigma?" Women doing unpaid work in family not paid COVID stimulus

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