Minister hits at workers’ exploitation

Employment Minister Dolores Cristina told Parliament yesterday that two government tenders were on hold to ensure that there was no loophole under which workers could be exploited. She said that it was the practice of government departments to choose the lowest tenders and some had abused the system.

Winding up the two-session debate on the estimates of the Employment and Training Corporation, Mrs Cristina announced that an exercise to check abuses was under way. In future, where such abuses were proven, contracts would be terminated. She said that precarious work was unacceptable and that no one should be exploited.

Mrs Cristina admitted that there were some contractors who found ways on how to play around the system. It was everyone’s duty to close all loopholes. She also referred to the circular issued by the Director General responsible for contracts where public officials were instructed to be sensitive to the rights and obligations of workers under public procurement contracts. She said that no employee could be employed as self-employed. She suggested the time had come for abusive employers to be named and shamed, especially those flouting the law which safeguarded the employment of people with special needs.

Minister Cristina also said that the ETC was drafting a human resources restructuring plan containing a number of recommendations to provide a better service.

She refuted allegations of insensitivity in cases where unemployment and social assistance benefits were denied. In 2010, the ETC carried out 3,745 inspections with 1,754 cases found in breach of employment legislations. The corporation had won 86 per cent of decided cases out of the 940 cases before the courts. The Director General in charge of social assistance was very humane and considered family needs within what the law permitted. She praised the benefit fraud directorate for its efficiency.

Mrs Cristina said that one of the reasons for the low female work participation rate was the local culture. There were also women who were engaged in undeclared employment. She referred to family-friendly measures in the public sector adding that there were private employers who imitated the government because they wanted to preserve their workforce. She said she was concerned whenever an employee was denied making use of family-friendly measures.

Surveys showed that 63 per cent of mothers and others taking care of relatives opted for part-time work. She added that one should not look at part-time work in a negative way.

She denied criticism by Labour deputy leader Anġlu Farrugia, claiming that he had his mathematics wrong. She denied that Malta had the highest increase in the rate of people living in poverty risk. The increase for Malta stood at 0.5 per cent while Luxembourg registered an increase of 1.5 per cent. People sending their children to child care centres could do so for free according to means tests or through subsidies and tax credits.

The increase of expenditure in unemployment and social assistance benefits was the result of increases in the amount of benefits and also because 14 instead of 13 payments were made in 2010.

Earlier, Minister Cristina said the opposition did not seem to be aware of the various schemes available. However, one thing that had not been mentioned was the global situation over the past few years. Malta too had been affected but had been found well prepared.

It was not the first time that Dr Farrugia had mixed figures up. Mrs Cristina said her own figures were taken out of the Labour Force Survey by the NSO. By December 2010, Malta had seen the highest figure ever of 163,000 gainfully employed, including more than 56 per cent of persons between the ages of 16 and 64.

It was also true that the number of women going to work was increasing, but different cultures in other countries made meaningful comparisons difficult. There were whole generations of women in Malta and Gozo who would never go to work.

Although unemployment in Malta still showed one of the highest rates in Europe, the figures were going down. The most recent crises had shown Malta’s ability to safeguard its workers.

In spite of the economic difficulties, investment in Malta had not dried up. Thanks to the government’s continuous investment in infrastructure, legislation and standards, as well as flexible investments, the country had continued to be a strong attraction to investment to the tune of 99 projects, local and foreign.

Almost 5,000 investors had received €187 million in tax credits and grants, with schemes to help investors and developers to enhance competitiveness and products.