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Kurt Sansone
Unions might very well use Workers’ Day, 1 May, as an ideal launch pad for a combined proposal to organise a referendum to remove the legislative changes introduced earlier this year, which banned public holidays falling on a weekend from being added on to employees’ leave entitlement.
While confirming that unions are still engaged in discussions on the possibility of organising an abrogative referendum GWU secretary-general Tony Zarb would not commit himself to any deadline.
Ironically, 1 May this year falls on a Sunday and will not be added on to employees’ leave entitlement by virtue of the legislative changes passed through Parliament this year.
Talking to MaltaToday, Zarb said his union, the CMTU and Forum, an umbrella organisation for smaller unions, were currently discussing the issue individually.
Without committing himself to any deadline for the conclusion of discussions, Zarb said the response from other unions was encouraging. “After internal discussions are complete all unions will come together to debate the issue,” Zarb said.
The idea to organise a referendum to reverse the legislative changes introduced by Government after social partners failed to agree on a social pact, was first mooted by the GWU.
The Referenda Act allows any individual to collect signatures obliging Government to organise a referendum to give people a say on whether a particular law should be scrapped or not.
If unions decide to go ahead with the proposal they would have to specify which part of the law they want removed and collect more than 29,000 signatures to make their request valid according to law.
Once the signatures are collected they would have to be submitted to the Electoral Commission for vetting. After 15 days the Commission is bound to deliver its verdict on the validity of the signatures and deposit the request with the Constitutional Court.
For three months, anybody including the Attorney General can challenge the request for the referendum in the Constitutional Court.
Once the Court decrees that a referendum can be held it will be up to the President of the Republic to fix a date for the electoral appointment.
The referendum requires more than 50 per cent of registered voters to go out and vote to be deemed valid. If the majority decide in favour of the proposed abrogation, the law in question would be repealed immediately.
kurt@newsworksltd.com
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