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maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 14 OctObEr 2015 7 News Police union hails extra duties tax cut, lawyer-led prosecutions Tim Diacono The police officers' union has praised a Budget measure that will see extra duties carried out by police officers taxed separately at 15%. "It was unfair on police officers to have their extra duties taxed at 32% as part of their full-time employment and it didn't exactly encourage police officers to take up extra duties," Sandro Camill- eri told MaltaToday. "The reduc- tion was announced in Labour's pre-electoral manifesto and I'm delighted that it has now been im- plemented." Tax on extra duties has long been a gripe of the police union and the police association. Since police officers are forbid- den from seeking a part-time job due to reasons of conflict of inter- est, their only means of gaining an extra income is by working as private police officers – such as at football stadiums, banks, and weddings. however, prior to this Budget measure, extra duty wages were paid as part of their full-time salary package and taxed at the same rate. Camilleri also welcomed a budgetary pilot project that will see prosecutions in Magistrate Francesco Depasquale's court- room led by lawyers rather than by police inspectors, the latter who will therefore get to focus fully on investigating cases. "Police officers shouldn't lead prosecutions themselves, and in- deed Malta is the only country in europe where they still so," he said. "I am confident that it will be a successful measure." In its manifesto, Labour had also pledged to see police offic- ers "adequately" compensated for overtime arrears for hours worked between 1993 and 2009. The problem dates back to 1993, when the government of the day signed a collective agreement that would see police officers paid an overtime rate according to their extra hours worked, rather than the previous €23 monthly flat rate. however, the new rate wasn't properly implemented and the Malta Police Association in 2009 filed a judicial protest against the government to reclaim overtime arrears due for the past 17 years. When questioned about Labour's pre-electoral promise, Camilleri expressed full confidence that it will be implemented, despite the government not having yet ap- proached the union with concrete compensation measures. "The electoral programme spans a total of five years, around half of which is yet to pass," Camilleri said. "I'm confident that a solu- tion for overtime arrears will soon be found, as will an expression of interest for an insurance policy to cover police officers injured while on duty. "After all, it was under this La- bour government that police of- ficers were finally granted the right to join a union. The previous administration had left us voice- less." Police Association welcomes additional funds for overtime, equipment The Malta Police Association welcomed the Budget announce- ment that more funds will be al- located for police overtime and equipment. In a statement, association presi- dent Malcolm Bondin also praised the setting up of a unit within the police force to focus specifically on prosecutions, as well as the tax reduction for extra duties. "This decision will encourage police officers to carry out their duties with increased dedication, despite their work often coming at a cost to their own personal lives." Police Officers' Union president Sandro Camilleri Online blunder enrages vintage car enthusiasts conTinueD from Page 1 Budget documents uploaded on the Fi- nance Ministry's website on Mon- day evening included a working document that should have never been made public. In a statement, the Finance Ministry said the work- ing document had been uploaded by mistake and was removed as soon as the mistake was flagged. "A number of provisional copies had been printed as well but it was withdrawn shortly afterwards," the Ministry said in an apologetic state- ment. The document included a number of social measures that were not in- cluded in Budget 2016 due to pend- ing technical analysis. The document was public long enough to allow members of the media and others to download a copy. One of the measures included restricting the use of vintage and classic cars on public roads during weekends and public holidays. Vintage and classic car enthusi- asts breathed a sigh of relief when they learnt the measure had been excluded from the final budget document. The Malta Motorsport Federa- tion (MMF) and the Federazzjoni Maltija Vetturi Antiki (FMVA) had been shocked to learn of the alleged measure, after they were given the impression that government had considered it without even consult- ing them. "It is simply not true that classic vehicles are contributing in any way to Malta's traffic problems," the or- ganisations had said. FMVA had also threatened to not attend any meetings of the Trans- port Malta vintage vehicle clas- sification committee until further notice. The certification of classic vehi- cles is now so tightly controlled, that in one single month around 20 owners opted to de-classify their vehicles as classics and return them to mainstream use. The working document also sug- gests that the government will de- volve the former Café Premier site to the Valletta local council. "This is not a budgetary measure," the finance ministry said, adding that the government would "con- firm it" in the coming days. Malta Public Transport to introduce winter fare The fare for a journey of two hours when paying in cash on the bus will be reduced from €2.00 to €1.50. This applies to customers who pay for the ticket in cash on the bus. Customers paying in cash will thus benefit from a reduced rate during the winter months when us- ing the public transport network in Malta and Gozo. There will be no change in the fares paid when using any one of the tallinja cards, the explore cards and the 12 Single Day Journeys card. Malta Public Transport will be returning to the winter timetable from 18 October. MUT disappointed over Budget's failure to address teachers' needs The Malta Union of Teachers (MUT) expressed its disap- pointment at the 2016 Budget's failure to address the urgent needs of educators in schools. The union said it was expect- ing that these concerns, which emerged in recent studies con- ducted by both the MUT and government, would be a priority for the Labour administration. "One such concern is the lack of necessary human resources support to cope with adminis- trative and other bureaucratic aspects in schools," the union said, adding that studies re- vealed more than 90% of heads of Schools take up most of their time on endless bureaucratic tasks instead of carrying out curricular leadership at their schools. It added that human resources are sorely needed in both Pri- mary and Secondary schools. "While various graduate teachers are ending up unem- ployed or employed in areas for which they did not study, most teachers in both state and church schools are maxed out on loads." Predicting that some schools will be hit by a crisis once win- ter sets in, the union said "the budget speech also fails to pro- vide support of on call person- nel for kindergartens and LSAs address, with the result that when there are kindergarten assistants and learning sup- port assistants absent, children might have to be sent home." Meanwhile, the MUT wel- comed a number of measures announced in the budget in- cluding the earlier screening of children so that special needs are identified and support provided at an early stage, the extension of sabbatical leave and the roll-out of the tablets project in 2016. It also noted with satisfaction that "at last" new laptops will be provided to teachers, LSAs and Kindergarten Assistants in the coming months. In regards to MCAST, while aknowledging the continual infrastructural upgrades, MUT said the budget failed to ad- dress an acute overpopulation problem at the institute of art and design which is over popu- lated by 400 students. "This overpopulation is caus- ing huge problems in logistics and organisation but worse than this legal parameters in laboratories and workshops are not being respected, putting both lecturers and students at risk." With regards to the Universi- ty of Malta, the MUT welcomed the developments on Quality Assurance which it said would inevitably increase the various aspects of quality of the institu- tion. The MUT also agrees with adding value to research by increasing administration as- sistance. Also, the stipends for mature students are a positive measure that will increase life- long education. The union added that it is "very disappointed" that gov- ernment has increased the amount of pensionable years from 40 to 41. "This is an in- direct measure to increase pen- sionable age." The Budget document proposed restricting the use of vintage cars to weekend and public holidays