Monday, 15th September 2008 - 13:17CET
GWU calls for tough penalties against exploitation of migrant workers
The GWU today called on the government to crack down on the exploitation of migrant workers and to introduce stiffer penalties on those employers who abuse.
GWU general secretary Tony Zarb told a press conference that migrant workers who were allowed to work should be offered the same conditions as Maltese and efforts should be made to integrate them.
He warned that inferior conditions, including inferior pay and inferior health and safety conditions, were wrong not only in the case of these workers, but also the Maltese workers. Cheap labour, he insisted, should not be allowed to rear its ugly head.
The comments were made when Mr Zarb presented a document on the exploitation of migrant workers in Malta.
He pointed out that Malta had two forms of migrant workers - those from Eastern Europe who came to Malta regularly and were often employed in the tourism industry, and irregular migrants.
The GWU document says that rregular migrant workers have become a "national scourge for our country."
"In reality, the vast majority of these irregular migrant workers are black and are often employed in very dangerous and underpaid conditions. Very often payments are far less than the national minimum wage. It is a shame that these workers have, on various occasions in the past and even in the present, been employed under such exploitative conditions in projects that are ultimately financed by the Maltese Government itself. It is also a reality that the majority of irregular migrant workers are loathe to report any abuses that may encounter in their place of work because they are very much aware that such reports may lead to their dismissal and may even lead to the far worse fate of their deportation to their mother country."
Mr Zarb insisted that no worker should be exploited, whether Maltese or foreign, and independently of his race or religion.
He said workers should organise themselves in trade unions to have their rights protected. The GWU, on its part, would train its shop stewards on such issues, including integration of migrant workers.
The union late next month will also hold a conference on the subject.
Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, speaking yesterday, also mentioned exploitation of migrant workers as an issue which the country had to tackle.
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Comments
Integration is a Must.
Here we must not confuse legal workers with illegal immigrants.
Soon, we will have the Smart city (biggest ever investment to Malta IT sector) which is coming from Dubai, not from the EU. What shall we do when we have Arabs, Muslims, Indians, working in the Smart city, shall we let them go because we don’t want them to live among us?
Shall we let them legally working, without giving them their rights?
A very good step from the GWU.
Any way, I have been saying it: Our problem is not the irregular immigrants, the problem lies within indeed!
It would be heartening to hear the PM talk about the issue of illegal immigration full stop. To date we have had no real information about what the government is planning to do to stop this unchecked influx into the country. The only thing we read about is our MEPs trying to persuade the EU to 'burden share'. This is obviously a waste of time as no other EU country is going to exacerbate its own immigration problems to help Malta.
We never read about how many illegal immigrants were repatriated. We only know that thousands arrived, most were put in detention centres for a few months, then let loose on the streets. Surely this cannot be a healthy situation for the country. There is evidence that some of these people become angry and resentful during their period of detention.
When will the government give some assurances that concrete steps are being taken to solve this problem which really has become a national scourge for our country?
Our so called smart island needs these migrants why because they need to do our dirty jobs go on a construction site the Maltese guys do the technical work and the migrants do the back breaking work go on the farms you see the Maltese farmer with 2 other migrants working his field we need them because without them our cost of living will rise more and more u ahna qedghin sew u iktar nigu sew.
To all, the governement is sending back migrants but on our newspapers report only their arrival to Melita the so called sacred island.
I am confident that the opposition parties (MLP and AD) as well as NGOs and UHM will fully support GWU and the Government in this matter.
If migrants are to work, they should not be exploited and should have the same working conditions as Maltese. In turn, they would be subject to all the normal employment and taxation laws. This includes any disciplinary measures too, just as in the case of Maltese.
In other words, we will strive to have cheap and undeclared labour consigned to the trashcans of history.
GWU should now go further ahead and urge the government to clamp upon the numerous workers from eastern europe who work as waitresses, mistresses etc- the lot, that is. These are working for buttons at times, or doing illicit work, and not paying taxes.
The law should apply to anybody, irrespective or race or skin colour. And that includes Maltese who have been evading taxes for years.
By harping against exploitation, the GWU is actually helping Maltese workers.
No expoloitation menas a level playing field.
Due to the current exploitation of these migrants, in certain sectors, Maltese workers are at a huge disadvantage.
"Tuesday will be dedicated to the environment, Wednesday to education and Thursday to work. Friday will be dedicated to a one-on-one interview with the Prime Minister. "
Probably the PM does not want to hear what everybody is saying about illegal immigrants.
The notion that some people are more equal than others needs to cease.
most building contractors do not want to pay their workers decent wages, that's why your leading contractor said so. Most of them would squeeze the last drop of blood from their workers and if possible not pay them anything at all.
As for illegal immigrants that do not want to come here, can you explain why, if you talk privately to soldiers, they all tell you that when they meet with illegal immigrants on the sea all they keep saying is Marsa Marsa?
And if they did not want to come here, why is it that they always phone their friends at Marsa for the AFM to go for them?
And why, if they do not want to come here, does the AFM keep hauling them in to Malta to continuously exacerbate the problems they are causing us?
Of course we begrudge every euro cent that is spent on illegal immigrants when they should not be here in the first place and we were never their colonizers.
By the way, the GWU and other NGOs including the Church can forget about integrating the illegal immigrants within Maltese society. No way.
Foreign workers in Malta are used to undercut the potential wages and conditions of Maltese workers. We joined the EU to raise standards of everything, including wages and working conditions. Foreign, illegal and non-unionised labour pulls down the standards of Maltese wage earners.
You are missing the point here. By giving the immigrants the same conditions as the Maltese workers in terms of pay and other benefits, automatically the jobs for Maltese workers will be safeguarded. No employer will then opt to hire an immigrant instead of a Maltese National to save money in terms of wages, N.I contributions and taxes. The regulations and enforcement have to come from the authorities. The authorities should have controlled this exploitation from the beginning and not allowed it to drag to this point. The GWU should be congratulated for this initiative but should not take advantage of this situation to increase its membership. That is also tantamount to exploitation.
@ Bernard Mamo: No, these foreign workers do not pay any taxes because the employer does not want to legally employ them. If he would do so, then he will have to pay N.I. and he also has to pay them a proper wage (the wage has to be filled in on the work permit application). Therefore, many times, the employers refuse to apply for working permits for their foreign workers.
@ L Galea: many of these people actually do work that Maltese do not want to do for such a pittance in wages. So your problem should be with the employers who are selfish enough to employ (i.e. exploit) people just to fatten their own wallets!
If they are working surely they are paying taxes if not the Government needs to sort this out asap.
@ L Galea
If employers are forced to pay these workers as much as they would do a maltese worker then the employer will choose the best man /woman for the job, not who is willing to work for less. Most of these migrant workers are working in the refuse collection and construction industries, and I remember a few years ago a leading building contractor stating that he found it difficult to find workers for the construction business.
I think its only natural that locals feel threatened, but I think the main reason a lot of us are feeling threatened is because of the dire financial situation we find ourselves in and we begrude every euro cent, which has to be spent on these imigrants.
Personally I think countries with more resources then us are just not doing enough - the irony is that the majority don't even want to stay here but would prefer to move on to countries like France, Italy and Great Britain.
I don't often agree with you, but today I take my hat off to you! Well said!
GWU, your duty is to protect the Maltese workers not foreign illegal immigrants.
Do I? YES!
Do these clandestines get social benefits? YES!
Do I? only after i see HELL!