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WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT WEDNESDAY EDITION €1.00 Newspaper post PAGE 9 • Editorial WEDNESDAY • 12 APRIL 2017 • ISSUE 517 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY PAGE 2 Chetcuti asked to stand by both Labour and PN PAGE 4 Both Labour and the Nationalist party leaders have courted Sandro Chetcuti, the president of the Malta Developers Association, to attract the might of the construction lobby to their electoral chances Hundreds in public service get indefinite contracts JURGEN BALZAN A public service circular issued yester- day will see hundreds of civil service workers on definite three-year con- tracts, benefit from an indefinite con- tract upon expiry of their terms. The move was announced by the principal permanent secretary Mario Cutajar, in a sweeping reform which he said would address a discrimination created in the past between civil serv- ants, and those employed from outside the public service. "The removal of this discrimina- tion will mean all workers who are on statutory probation inside the public service are now equal with each other," Cutajar said. Malta is expected to enter into elec- tion mode this year as it edges closer to a potential voting day season for November, or go for a March 2018 ap- pointment. He said the new rules standardise probation periods across all sectors and will now help the public service re- main competitive by retaining its best employees indefinitely. Cutajar, who is currently negotiat- ing a new collective agreement with workers' unions, said that it was prior practice to grant indefinite contracts to workers in the public service with definite contracts, at every five-year interval. Major pre-electoral reform will see three-year definite contracts extend into indefinite contracts MAT THEW VELLA SANDRO Chetcuti, the president of the Malta Developers Association, has declared he was asked to contest the general election by both Labour and Nationalist party leaders Jo- seph Muscat and Simon Busuttil. Chetcuti 's revelation will be aired on Thursday on TVM's Xtra in an interview with presenter Saviour Balzan, in which the devel- oper says that he was not interested in standing for election and told both leaders that he would not consider their proposal. Chetcuti captains the Maltese construction industry's inf luential lobby, having famously de- scribed the political parties as "two big shops" catering to the whims of interest groups like his own. The MDA president has also admitted being present for meetings at the Labour HQ in the run-up to the 2013 election. Since then, the Labour government has relaxed various planning policies, as well as weakened the Planning Authority's environment arm in an institutional demerger, usher- ing a revitalised construction indus- try that is currently in full swing across the island. Perhaps Chetcuti captured this bullish spirit when at an AGM of the MDA, he called on developers "to make hay while the sun shines" – an obvious ref- erence to the robustness of the industry after emerging from the financial crisis of 2011, when empty housing stock rose.