UHM Voice of the Workers notes that in the 2025 Budget, the Government has resisted calls to stop taxing the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) increase while also raising the minimum number of years of social security contributions by one year without any consultation.

While the Government has reduced taxes, the middle class will not benefit any more than those with low income. This tax cut is intended to counterbalance the recent years of high cost of living, which has eroded families’ quality of life. This measure will help around 165,000 workers who earn less than the median income of €19,000 per year, but not the middle class. The call for “making work pay for the middle class” has not been fulfilled.

UHM is surprised that for those born after 1976, the Government has decided, without any consultation, to add another year of social security contributions for the retirement pension, increasing it from 41 to 42 years.

Regarding pensions, UHM is also concerned about the direction the Government is taking, as it is proposing a model that exists nowhere else in the world. This is neither a second-pillar pension nor a third-pillar pension. Who will benefit exactly from this measure – Civil Servants or the Public Sector? What about workers who aren’t on the Government payroll? They won’t have access to this pension, which will create social disparity. We cannot allow such a divide in pensions.

The Budget ignores healthcare, particularly the manner in which Government plans to recover the €400 million lost in the hospitals agreement, and make no tangible measure on how to beat traffic congestion.

UHM expresses disappointment that the Budget makes no mention of the proposal for mandatory union membership for low-income earners. Government lacks the political will to fulfil its own promise. Likewise, the proposal for a non-taxable COLA has again been disregarded, despite the  appeals from social partners which unfortunately fell on deaf ears.