Blowing hot and cold

Leader of the Opposition Joseph Muscat never misses an opportunity to criticise the government over the rising prices in petrol, diesel, gas, water and electricity. Repeating his weekly mantra, last Sunday he even insinuated that it is solely the government’s doing.

Predicting we would suffer an economic crisis and telling consumers not to pay their bills until the government reduced them, he has described the utility tariffs as a “knockout to the economy”, “institutionalised theft” and a “comic tragedy” among many other unpleasantries. During the parliamentary debate on the divorce referendum on March 16, he simplistically argued that marriages were failing because of the costs couples are facing, including of course the blessed utility tariffs. Labour’s crusade against the government started during the European Parliament elections in 2009 when it erected billboards all over the island sporting the words: Xokk: Il-kontijiet tad-dawl u l-ilma (Shock: water and electricity bills).

But Labour’s hypocrisy knows no limits. During an interview in The Sunday Times on June 14, a few days after those elections, when the Labour leader was hard-pressed, to say whether he, as Prime Minister, would reduce utility tariffs to their original rate, he refused to give such a guarantee. Singing to a new melody he said that he might reduce them by some five per cent but he will decide exactly how much according to the price of fuel at the time. Dah!

The Labour leader has this cute knack of trying to appear empathic with all and sundry and while patronisingly urging the “struggling” employers to pluck up courage, he tells them that it is in their own interest to keep prices down. If not, their sales will decline and they will have to pay the increase in price themselves due to a rise in wages to meet the cost of living index.

And yet, in the same breath, to appear even sweeter with other “stressed” workers, he promises them a “living wage”. In other words, he wants the “struggling self-employed” who are allegedly experiencing a precarious financial situation, to fork out an extra wage for their employees whether they deserve it or not and without increasing their prices to boot!

When the Labour leader fired the living wage bolt from the blue he did not offer any details. But, two months later, during his address at a Malta Employers’ Association (MEA) business breakfast, after facing a barrage of criticism, he specified that the living wage would not be imposed but that “it would be a voluntary yardstick implemented through ‘social consensus’,” (November 19). The Labour news portal in fact had reported: “The Labour leader stressed that the living wage would not be imposed legally, but should be established through consensus between unions and employers”.

So, back to the airy-fairy proposal: who in their right mind would “voluntarily” offer their human resources an extra wage ignoring their value and production? Considering that costs would inevitably rise, can the Leader of the Opposition explain how the employers he likes to defend so much are going to foot the cost without raising prices which he tells them is in their own interest to keep low? Above all, where does his pet catchword “meritocracy” fit in this new equation? Workers should progress because of their ability and talent rather than on privileges, full stop.

The Labour leader labelled the living wage a concept of this generation so let’s ask a few fitting questions, such as, who exactly will be eligible to receive this living wage? Will there be different rates for married couples with children or without?

Will the rate increase according to the number of children? What about separated couples or unmarried single employees? Do they receive the same wage as a family with several children?

Will the amount factor in an employee’s income? Will overtime or any other second income for that matter be taken into consideration? Many more questions spring to mind, but space is too limited.

The Labour leader continues to give the impression that the minimum wage is too low for comfort but according to MEA’s position paper published last November, the minimum wage in Malta stands in the medium range compared to other EU countries. “In fact after adjusting for difference in purchasing power, Malta ranks as the seventh country with the highest real minimum wage in the EU.” It is also close to that in the US. Moreover, workers in other countries, like Cyprus, are not even protected by a minimum wage. Anyway, the Labour leader’s living wage only targets the private sector because in Malta, no employee in the public sector is on minimum wage… they all receive a better pay.

To be fair, in an ideal world it would be great if every individual had enough money to live comfortably but unfortunately we inhabit this imperfect planet and dishing out a living wage will have a serious impact on our competitiveness, especially now when Europe is struggling to remain competitive on the world stage.

This is not the first time Labour has come out with an unworkable plan and it’s anybody’s guess how many more we are likely to hear as the elections draw nearer. Like it’s anybody’s guess what the Labour leader had in mind when he revealed his superb idea to have another University in Malta to compete with the one we already have!