Dalli warns employers not to threaten government

Social Solidarity Minister John Dalli this morning criticised those employers who threaten to fire workers if the government stops subsidising their salary through Employment and Training Corporation schemes.

“These schemes are there to help the workers’ integration and employers need to get it out of their heads that these will be permanent subsidies,” he stressed.

“We need more cooperation from employers. I also appeal to unions to focus more on the issues of meritocracy and flexibility... We will reach a stage where it will become a normality that no job is for life,” Mr Dalli added.

Speaking at the ETC’s new training complex in Ħal Far, together with Parliamentary Secretary Chris Said, Mr Dalli focused on the importance of ensuring workers were trained in certain basic skills, such as IT, so that if they had to move to another job the transfer would be easier.

During the conference, Dr Said highlighted the way EU funds were spent. He said Malta had the highest absorption rate of funds, at 82 per cent, when compared to other EU member states.