Employers demanding PL drop pledge for mandatory union membership

Mar 16 2022

The Labour manifesto has revealed that the party agrees with the principle of mandatory membership in a trade union, promising to start discussions on the implementation of this measure.

However, this received backlash from three leading employers’ associations, who called on the party to drop this proposals with immediate effect.

The Malta Employers Association (MEA), Malta Chamber of Commerce and the Chamber of SMEs declared that they are against the proposal during a news conference Wednesday morning.

MEA’s director-general Joseph Farrugia said that the three associations are completely agains the proposal and consider it not open for discussion.

Farrugia warned that any decision to forge ahead may lead to a disruption in established social dialogue structures which already exist. ‘The way the proposal is written in the manifesto makes it clear that it has already been decided that trade union membership will be made mandatory, but we cannot agree with this.’

This pledge goes against the European Charter of Human Rights, the Maltese constitution and the UN’s Charter for Human Rights, said Farrugia.

The proposal was however defended by Finance Minister Clyde Caruana who argued that unions help prevent the exploitation of employees. He did however say that he did not believe the proposal will result in 100% worker unionisation rates.

Instead, Caruana said, the measure will facilitate the process for workers who were hesitant to join a union because of any potential repercussions from their employers.

#MaltaDaily

PL and PN called out by Birdlife for ‘appeasing’ hunters for votes

Mar 16 2022

Birdlife Malta has expressed disappointment at what it deems the two main political parties’ attempts to appease hunters and trappers for votes.

This comes at the detriment of the rest of society, the organisation said in a press conference on Wednesday morning in Valletta.

Birdlife Malta CEO Mark Sultana said that this is putting Malta at risk of being taken again to the European Court of Justice on spring hunting, bird trapping and the illegal killing of protected birds.

Sultana said that for the two main parties, ‘those persons that do not have a hunting or trapping license are irrelevant. PL and PN both seem alienated from the fact that nobody enjoys the countryside when there are 10,000 hunters with loaded shotguns in our limited natural spaces.’

Sultana called out the lack of courage and ‘spine’ to stand up and bring solutions to control the illegal hunting in Malta which is ‘clearly rampant.’ The PN and PL are ‘both eager to see another spring hunting season, the most unsustainable practice, that goes against the EU Birds Directive.’

The ORNIS Committee, which is entrusted with advising the minister on matters concerning the conservation of wild birds, will be meeting on Wednesday and the agenda is aimed at weakening laws. This is an excuse to open a spring hunting season on the vulnerable turtle-dove, said Sultana.

‘While all of Europe is protecting this bird from extinction, Malta wants to hunt it down a few days before it reaches its breeding grounds’ he said.

#MaltaDaily

Fort Fitness is everything you could ever want in a gym and more

Fort Fitness is everything you could ever want in a gym and then some

Mar 16 2022

As the summer season begins to approach and everyone and their mother seems to have started working on their summer body, fitness begins to top everyone’s priority list. That’s why finding the right gym is as important as ever and if a super valuable fully-equipped gym is what you’re looking, Fort Fitness is the place to go.

The prestigious local gym sports over 140 exercise machines per location, a three-lane indoor track and a boxing ring, which includes an academy catering for both adults and children. That’s right, 3000 square metres of pure, unadulterated grind with around-the-clock benefits for members.

As a matter of fact, Fort Fitness offers peak & off-peak memberships with varied payment options as well as selected free classes included in the membership. Depending on availability, the free classes could be anything from calisthenics to yoga and will provide your weekly workout routine all well-needed change of pace.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Fort Fitness (@fort.fitness)

If that wasn’t enough to get you working out, Fort Fitness offers free parking, personal trainers, access to lockers and all the amenities you could ever need to motivate you to start working out. Simply put, Fort Fitness caters for all your training needs, opening the doors to a community which believes in self-love & self-improvement whilst pushing you closer and closer to reaching your fitness goals.

They have repeatedly stated that they believe that everybody should be given the opportunity to exercise in a judgement free space, with the support they need to enhance both their physical and mental well-being… and we can definitely vouch.

Send this to someone who needs to visit Fort Fitness.

#MaltaDaily

Partit Popolari promsies to double minimum wage to €1.5K per month

Mar 16 2022

Third political party Partit Popolari has pledged to increase the minimum wage by double, bringing it up to €1.5K per month.

Explaining in their electoral manifesto, the party seeks to put an end to having Malta’s economy being built on a model of low wages. The party is therefore pledging a doubling of minimum wage spread over the period of 10 years.

Malta’s current minimum wage stands at around €181 per week.

The party is also pledging to put an end to the giving of working permits to third country nationals, except for those who have essential and rare skills which can be used in Malta. Exceptions are made for carers and medical personnel.

The doubling of minimum pay also attempts to address the problem of cheap labour. The party states that economic activities which do not remain possible due to these increases are not adapted for a small country’s economy.

#MaltaDaily