Coronavirus: Prime Minister meets MCESD for briefing on new economic rescue package

Unions and employers are being briefed by Prime Minister Robert Abela on a new aid package to sustain the economy being proposed by government.

Abela is addressing a meeting of the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development this afternoon.

The Prime Minister held several meetings with employer groups and unions over the weekend after an economic rescue package unveiled last week was widely criticised as being inadequate to stave off unemployment in the present circumstances.

Employers and unions called for a bigger direct injection of cash for wages in the private sector at a time when almost all activity ground to a halt.

General Workers’ Union secretary general Josef Bugeja confirmed the MCESD meeting when asked about the union’s expectations after having met the Prime Minister yesterday.

Bugeja said he expected the Prime Minister to announce a bigger injection of funds to cover wages but would not comment on the details of what government is proposing.

Bugeja was answering questions after addressing a press conference at union HQ where he announced that nurses from hospital’s emergency department had joined the GWU.