General Workers’ Union Calls For Special Sick Leave For ‘Women Who Experience Loss At Childbirth Or During Pregnancy’
Malta’s General Workers’ Union has proposed “special sick leave” for women and child-bearers who suffer loss during childbirth or pregnancy.
“This compassionate leave offers support in a time of difficulty and loss, by recognising the emotional and physical effect of a pregnancy on a prospective mother,” a statement by the union reads.
This comes as part of a list of policies that the union wants to be added to the 2024 Budget. The suggestions aim to relieve a number of economic and social issues plaguing the island, in the hopes that the 2024 recovery plans leave no one behind.
“It is imperative that a strategic economic vision for the next 20 years is put in place. This requires cooperation between the government, the Opposition, and the social partners, to address our common challenges together,” GWU secretary-general Josef Bugeja said.
“But we must also address income inequality, by ensuring a progressive taxation and a social program that sees the wealth from this economic growth distributed in an equitable way amongst the social strata, ensuring social justice, within an environmental, social, and governance framework.”
One major essential proposal is for renewed discussions on minimum wages and low wages, as well as a National Living Income to be placed on the national agenda, together with the second COLA mechanism.
In tandem with special sick leave, the GWU wants to see childcare facilities and health clinics in industrial zones; equal pay for equal work through the capping of the number of contracted workers at the workplace; and a mental health first aider present at the place of work.
Other notable proposals include occupational insurance for workers in cases of accidents, especially in construction work and other jobs that are deemed dangerous; the regularisation of work permits; and for work to be paid at double the hourly rate on Sundays – irrespective of economic sector.
The GWU’s proposals didn’t just cover work-related issues, they also urged for justice, education, environmental, Gozo, and property-related policies to be implemented.
They called for physical activity and nutritional education to become an integral part of the curricula; solar rights for families who invested in PV panels and suffered the shadowing effects of nearby construction by compensation in solar farms; and the prioritisation of the completion of the Victoria health centre and the new Gozo General Hospital.
These are just a few of several proposals outlined by the union.
Do you agree with the GWU’s proposals?
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