Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/311673
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 14 MAY 2014 3 MIRIAM DALLI 2,700 workers who are employed by the private but subcontracted to work with the government are em- ployed under precarious conditions, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said. Workers in precarious employ- ment have been found to earn a pay of between €4.14 and €4.25 and hour, overtime paid by the hour and their contract renewed on a month- by-month basis. Security workers, for example, are even asked to pay their own license, even though this should be paid by the employer. Addressing a political activity in Zebbug, Muscat said he understood the frustration of these workers, many of whom were threatening not to vote in the coming EP elections in protest for the lack of action in their regard. "I understand their situation and their employment conditions are il- legal. However, I do not want to rush a plan simply because the elections are close. I assure them that like we kept on our word on other issues, this matter will be addressed." Muscat explained that initially, the government thought about tackling the issue category by category, start- ing off with security, cleaners, clerks and so forth. However, the govern- ment realised it couldn't choose one category over the other, so the plan was to start balancing the salaries. For example, security workers di- rectly employed by the government received a scale 18 salary. The plan is for those subcontracted by the private sector to start receiving the minimum level of this scale and increasing it until both salaries be- come equal. "We are trying to change the sys- tem by balancing it out because we cannot bring them on equal footing by the first time. The plan will be announced in the near future but I cannot rush it simply because of the elections. I am not fishing for votes and my commitment is to address the matter." He however still urged his audi- ence to remember that the govern- ment had kept its word on several other issues. Once again, Muscat also urged the Labour supporters to vote for the party's candidates in order to elect Martin Schulz as president of the European Commission. Referring to the 200 migrants who lost their lives on Monday af- ternoon, Muscat said the European Union could not continue turning a blind eye on these deaths. "We need a legal migration system to fight these criminal rackets who abuse of the vulnerable position these migrants find themselves in," he said. Muscat added that Malta was of- fering its assistance to Italy to patrol the seas and the Armed Forces of Malta also sent an aircraft to help in Monday's search. Muscat said that unlike the Na- tionalist administration, the gov- ernment delivers on it what it promises. Two men among the audience promptly produced their first cheque as the Labour govern- ment honoured its pledge to refund the registration tax on imported second-hand cars, and will be given in tranche. News The Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA) has issued for public consultation a policy framework to provide a general guidance and establish planning parameters for new fuel service stations or existing ones which are seeking relocation. While the proposed policy is not intended to fo forcibly relocate existing fuel service stations which are currently located in less desirable areas, the policy seeks to provide additional guidance on their relocation. The policy addresses matters such as suitability of alternative sites, the proximity of the new site to the Development Zone and to the road network, proximity to other fuel stations and other planning and environmental considerations. A consultation meeting to discuss the proposed policy is being organised on: Date: Tuesday 20th May 2014 Place: MEPA Boardroom, St Francis Ravelin Floriana Time: 15.00hrs The dra The draft policy can be viewed on the Authority's website; www.mepa.org.mt/public-consultation. Individuals and organizations are being invited to send their submissions on fuelstation.policy@mepa.org.mt. Submissions should reach the Authority by 06th June 2014. 06th June 2014. PUBLIC CONSULTATION FUEL SERVICE STATIONS POLICY Ministry provides scant details on gas supply agreement JAMES DEBONO THE Ministry for Energy has con- firmed that the gas supply agreement between Enemalta and ElectroGas was signed last week. It has however refused to divulge any more details on the signed agreement. MaltaToday asked the Ministry for details on who signed the agreement on behalf of ElectroGas and the gov- ernment. This newspaper also asked when the government intends to publish the agreement and whether it intends to table the agreement in parliament. However the ministry said further details will be given later on. "The agreement was signed last week and the parties involved were Enemalta and ElectroGas Consor- tium. Other details will be given at a later stage." The issue was raised during Mon- day's edition of TV programme Re- porter during which Prime Minister Joseph Muscat first denied that an agreement has been signed and later on, corrected himself saying that the agreement was signed but not pub- lished. It was only last week that the government confirmed with this newspaper that an agreement with ElectroGas was to be signed by the end of the week after this issue was raised in a previous edition of TV programme Reporter during which Minister Chris Cardona failed to an- swer questions by PN deputy leader Mario De Marco on whether the crucial agreement with ElectroGas had been signed or not. Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi Addressing a political activity in Zebbug, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said he understood the frustration of precarious workers 2,700 subcontracted workers with government in precarious employment Busuttil: 'Patients' dignity comes first for PN' JURGEN BALZAN THE people are expecting the crea- tion of jobs and not the creation of unemployment, PN leader Simon Bu- suttil said yesterday as he addressed a party event in Birkirkara. Noting an increase in unemploy- ment, the country's deficit and retail sales, Busuttil said that government "cannot conceal the problems for long" and that the Opposition would carry out its duties and expose the government's shortcomings. Turning to the Delimara power plant contract, Busuttil said that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat's "artificial way of doing things" was exposed by Muscat's "uneasiness" on the matter. Busuttil also took time to thank one of Birkirkara's favourite sons, Eddie Fenech Adami, whose "infinite cour- age, political vision, ambition and determination" made Malta an EU member and made the forthcoming European elections possible. Echoing the former PN leader man- tra – "righteousness will surely win" – Busuttil said this approach will guide the PN for years to come in its efforts to be an effective Opposition and an alternative government. Referring to Monday's debate be- tween himself and Muscat on Re- porter, Busuttil said "the prime min- ister first said that the €400 million contract had not been signed and a few seconds later he retracted and said that the contract was signed but not published. So why didn't he hold a press conference, as he did when he announced a 2c reduction on petrol?" Busuttil said to great applause. Busuttil slammed the internal inves- tigation carried out by government on the allegations of the discriminatory distribution of medicines "as nothing but a scam". He added that the PN would stop at nothing in uncovering the "shame- ful" discrimination which he said was "taking away patients' dignity". "This is why we proposed to extend the right of patients to receive treat- ment in private hospitals if this cannot be provided at Mater Dei. We want to uphold patients' dignity. Our position on health is very clear. The people and not party insiders come first," he said. Speaking on the motion which the PN presented earlier that day, Op- position MP Claudio Grech said that the Opposition's proposal would al- low citizens to benefit fully from the EU cross-border healthcare directive and ensure that patients may also seek state-paid treatment in local private hospitals instead of going abroad. He said that the law introduced in October 2013 by the Labour govern- ment was "illogical" because it explic- itly excluded the possibility of receiv- ing treatment in private hospitals in Malta. The EU directive gives European citizens the right to seek treatment in any EU member state, with their respective government refunding the treatment. "The proposal has three main ben- efits, firstly patients will not need to go abroad, government will not incur any extra costs and patients will enjoy the best treatment possible in a timely manner," Grech said. ENT specialist and former pro-EU campaigner Alec Lapira noted that the waiting list at Mater Dei hospital was affecting all medical sectors and the motion presented by the Opposi- tion would go a long way in reducing the waiting time. In addition, Lapira said that if pa- tients were allowed to be treated in private hospitals it would provide a "stimulus" to the private sector. Chris Delicata from the Malta Dia- betes Association was also present and in his address, he called on the political class to improve the treat- ment offered to diabetes sufferers and invest more in research, screening programmes and preventive meas- ures.