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Matthew Vella
GRTU president Paul Abela and director-general Vince Farrugia have decried the resignation of two council members as “political” after Reuben Buttigieg and Hubert Agius stepped down from the GRTU council, alleging they had not been consulted on the association’s budget reaction.
The former council members are being described as having expected the GRTU to issue a statement attacking the government’s budget last week, and resigned after the GRTU held up the majority opinion on the budget.
“They have allowed politics to enter the argument. Why did l-orizzont flash a front page on the resignations? It was because Buttigieg and Agius did not like the GRTU’s positive comments on the budget,” Abela told MaltaToday yesterday.
Farrugia said the GRTU has already encountered political pressure in the past. “Just because this budget had a positive slant, we couldn’t just spit out a negative statement and that’s why politics came into the matter. Buttigieg and Agius expected us to issue a negative statement.
“We have had the same pressure during the introduction of VAT where we were expected to favour the PN government, and again during the EU referendum when we were expected to favour Labour’s opposition,” Farrugia said.
The GRTU marked this year’s budget saying that the economy had turned with more importance being given to employment incentives and a revision of tax bands and the decrease in the departure tax.
Both Buttigieg and Agius were not present at the GRTU’s executive council meeting on the night of the budget speech, although Buttigieg told MaltaToday he phoned the council to give his opinion on the budget.
“There have been several decisions taken by the GRTU without prior consultation with the council,” Buttigieg said yesterday. “The budget reaction was the last straw. The statement on the budget had already been prepared by Paul Abela and Vince Farrugia. The GRTU statement in reaction to the budget was issued without even considering or discussing the views of councillors who were ready to help by giving their opinion on the subject.”
The GRTU called the former members’ decision to resign as “immature” and “an easy way out when their views are a minority” by the GRTU.
“The GRTU operates according to the will of the majority. On Wednesday night the councillors gathered together to listen to the budget speech, and analysed it, and agreed on a statement. We took a stand irrespective of any political agenda,” Paul Abela said.
Reuben Buttigieg is also the treasurer for the Malta Institute of Management, which in its budget reaction called for the government to abide by the rigorous deficit-cutting programme to secure the euro currency. The MIM reaction also criticised the National Euro Changeover Committee, on which Buttigieg was a GRTU representative, for failing to consult all the committee stakeholders.
Buttigieg, who represents the GRTU members in the south of Malta, is also the president of the Wied il-Ghajn retailers’ association, who were notified of his resignation and have asked to meet with the GRTU over the resignation.
Buttigieg told MaltaToday they will be discussing his resignation without him being present.
Asked whether his influence as president means the Wied il-Ghajn retailers will be leaving the GRTU, Buttigieg said he could not direct them on their position within the association and would leave it up to them to discuss his resignation at the GRTU.
mvella@mediatoday.com.mt
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