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GWU backs Labour MEP request for Commission probe into Malta food prices
GWU says it has received various complaints from small market vendors who say their hands are tied on prices set by major importers
Food inflation has played a pivotal role in the rising cost of living
The General Workers’ Union is backing Labour MEP Alex Agius Saliba’s campaign for a European Commission into food pricing practices by Malta’s major importers.
Last week the MEP named Alf Mizzi & Sons and Francis Busuttil & Sons during a Petitions Committee hearing in Brussels, which discussed his request for an EC probe into unfair market practices by major importers. Both firms have denied allegations of practices that bully retailers into accepting their products at the expense of cheaper goods imported by smaller parallel traders.
Agius Saliba on the warpath: ‘importers coerce stores to refuse cheaper goods’
“The GWU has itself received various complaints from grocery owners and stores that sell food, who say their hands are tied on the prices of goods they sell, as well as having been threatened by several of Malta’s major importers when they source cheaper food items and goods from smaller parallel traders – the threat is that they will lose out to access to the wider range of brands and products that these major importers provide to the whole market,” the union said.
“These same storekeepers and shop-owners also declared to the union that major importers distinguish their products from those of other traders, by affixing a hologram sticker on their brands, which further distorts fair competition from goods sourced from other parallel traders.”
The GWU even accused certain importers of reaping exaggerated profits on the prices of food products, saying “greed profiteering was one of the major reasons for the cost of living increase in Malta.”
“The GWU will keep advancing its proposals to fight the cost of living while keeping a decent quality of life for workers and pensioners in Malta,” the union said, adding that it backed the government’s price-stability assurance scheme, which has reduced the price of 15 categories of imported basic food items by a minimum of 15% below the Recommended Retail Price (RRP) as on 31 October 2023, in an agreement reached with importers and retailers of food products.
