The social partners yesterday proposed that an economic impact assessment be carried out on a Caritas proposal to raise the minimum wage, which it had made in a report on poverty published recently.

Initiative well worth listening to and well worth taking forward

The assessment would focus in particular on unit labour costs and competition, said sources who attended the meeting of the Malta Council for Social and Economic Development.

Caritas, a Church organisation, recently proposed to increase the minimum wage to €180 per week from the current €158, based on a study to establish the minimum expense for a decent living.

The year-long exercise has kick-started a debate that sees opinion divided on how best to tackle poverty. The report – A Minimum Budget For A Decent Living – was the sole item on the MCESD’s agenda yesterday.

Suggestions from the floor included a focus on just over 6,000 individuals who have been identified in the report as being “really financially challenged”, rather than taking a broad-brush approach that would include people from “totally different planets”.

Thought should be given to ways to ease the burden on this portion of the population, including pensioners, single mothers with absolutely no support and jobless families, without interfering with the ordinary workings of the economy vis-à-vis the working population. This approach would have less impact on the general economy, MCESD members felt.

They yesterday listened to the presentation by the Caritas team and congratulated them for an initiative that was “well worth listening to and well worth taking forward”, said MCESD chairman Sonny Portelli.

Mr Portelli described the meeting as “extremely cordial” and appreciation was shown for the work of Caritas, which was encouraged to develop it further, widening the debate to include more members of society.

The FORUM group of trade unions yesterday, however, complained that, despite the Prime Minister’s declarations, it was still not invited to the meeting.

In a statement signed by Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses president Paul Pace, it questioned whether the Prime Minister’s recent promises were empty.