A re-elected Labour Party would open discussions with social partners for workers to be given the right to request remote working, flexi-time, or a compressed working week, Prime Minister Robert Abela announced during the first electoral campaign mass meeting on Friday.
The proposal would also see the government assist employers and businesses for every worker whose request to switch to remote working is accepted, Abela said.
Abela was speaking at Castille Square in Valletta on the Labour Party’s traditional Worker’s Day mass meeting – which also happens to be the party’s first mass meeting since the Prime Minister announced a snap general election for 30 May.
“Today, we are proud of what we have achieved,” Abela told a strong crowd of cheering supporters.
“Today we want to dream of a Malta where your life is easier and better. What a wonderful road we have ahead of us,” he said.
He referred to two plans announced in the last week or so: the Malta in Motion plan for a 15-year revolution to Malta’s transport system, including a metro line, and the plan for Malta’s energy shift which was announced on Thursday and which includes the building of a third interconnector.
Abela said that he wants Malta to be among the top ten countries in human development, and for the median income of Maltese families to overtake the median average of European Union families by a third.
He admitted that these are “very ambitious” aims, but said that he believed that with determination and an energy to achieve, they can be reached. “Together we will make it,” he said.
“They used to tell us that Labour won’t work: today we are the best in Europe when it comes to creating jobs. They said that a bailout was coming: today we have a war chest worth hundreds of millions,” he said.
“Your job is to get your dreams to us, and our job is to fulfil them. That is the guarantee I give you,” he said.
Abela said that the PL’s plan is different from ones presented in the past: it’s not just thought out and costed, but the progress that the measures result in will be measured against a set of aims. “We will shift to an emphasis on people’s wellbeing,” Abela said.
The Labour Party leader said that in the coming weeks, the people will be able to compare the electoral manifestos of different parties, and he called upon them to question whether the plans they see before them can be implemented.
“For ours, the answer is crystal clear: Yes, it can, because it is costed, thought out in detail and it can be implemented. It is also a plan with clear aims, and tied to a clear and defined measure. We know how much it will cost and what it will lead to,” he said.
Abela moved on to reveal more new proposals, joining those already announced over the course of the week.
The first new idea he shared related to service pensions for former members of the disciplinary corps. He said that the government had already implemented a reform which saw those on these service pensions receive the annual Cost of Living Allowance.
A re-elected Labour Party would increase the service pension in the same way that it increases the standard retirement pension every year, Abela pledged, saying that this idea came from service pensioners themselves and he had listened.
Abela also pledged new tax measures for part-time workers. Right now, part-time workers pay a 10% tax on the first €10,000 – a new Labour government would increase that to the first €15,000, Abela said.
The same threshold for those who are part-time and self-employed will increase from €12,000 to €20,000, Abela said, adding that this will leave more and more money in people’s pockets.
Here, Abela mentioned the headline pledge that a Labour government would open a discussion with social partners for the “right” for workers to ask for remote working, flexi-time or a compressed week to be considered.
“We will also be there for the employers who accept by offering them assistance for those workers who switch to remote working,” Abela said.
He then moved onto another proposal for youths, saying that the government would launch an Individual Learning Account for each child in Malta and contribute €500 per year to it for ten years.
The idea of this account is for it to be used for educational reasons. “This is effectively a scholarship for every youth in our country,” Abela explained.
“We will continue to be your guarantee; your protection; your shield,” Abela said, reaching the end of his speech.
He said that he wants to see people continue to run forward, sustained “by the forces of a Better Malta.” “You will do well and you will achieve great things. Do not give up, as there are great successes ahead of us,” he said.
“This is the moment that we need to take the next step for a better Malta and Gozo. We will be with you for an easier, more beautiful and better life. For youths, parents, workers, entrepreneurs, and pensioners. You are Malta. Malta is yours,” he concluded to applause from the sea of red before him.
The mass meeting was also addressed by the Labour Party’s two deputy leaders: Ian Borg and Alex Agius Saliba.
