The Nationalist government was showing itself to be the greatest menace to the working sector, Labour MP Charles Mangion said on Monday.
Speaking during the debate on the ETC estimates, he said official actions in 2008 had led to instability. These had been led by the insensitive huge rises in utility tariffs, with neither families nor industry knowing how they would be affected as from October. The recent revisions, only in electricity, were still worrying, and the government was not ready to promise a further review before the end of the year in view of the currently-low prices of oil. But manufacturing and tourism, among others, needed to be able to plan.
Dr Mangion said that between October and December 2008 there had been thousands of individual ETC action plan reviews. More than 9,000 had used ETC schemes, and more than 4,000 of them had been placed in jobs. How could the difference in numbers be explained?
Last year Malta had seen the international financial meltdown as well as the international recession, the latter of which had just started to affect Malta and its products and services. It was obvious the government was dreaming that the recession was not affecting the country. It was even forecasting economic growth which nobody, not even the EU, believed. There needed to be concrete analysis of what was happening, but the Prime Minister did not seem to be aware of this.
This negation of reality was leading the government to fail to analyse realistically in order to save existing jobs and prepare for new initiatives for new jobs. The government would certainly not admit to the precarious financial situation.
The Prime Minister had said that the utility rates had been cut to enhance competitiveness; so what had the government been trying to do when it had raised them so drastically? It kept boasting of having created 9,000 new jobs, but according to the NSO the real number was only 2,200.
Dr Mangion said the EC was predicting that jobs would go down this year and rise minimally in 2010. Unemployment in Malta was rising by more than seven per cent and economic stimulus was necessary. Most countries had shown this, but Malta did not feel the need for it. It was obvious that the government would act like this because up to a year ago it had been saying that the country's finances were on a good footing, only to find out now that the national deficit had mushroomed uncontrollably. It had first been planned at €68 million, then €200 million, then €268 million and now it had outgrown even that by €55 million.
Did it make economic sense not to make the capital expenditure already mentioned in the budget? How was the tourist product to be helped with investment that would pay back in the longer term? The government could not continue to blame the deficit on aid to factories in difficulties, because €3.7 million was only seven per cent of the €55 million.
Were the people getting value for their money? Although Malta was entitled to EU funds, it was not using them all. Funds in the Central Bank were like uncut fruit on a tree. Judicious use of capital was part of the project to save jobs, increase job opportunities and address other issues of education and economy.
Concluding, Dr Mangion said the ETC was doing well, but the greatest threat to economic growth was the government itself.
Labour MP Carmelo Abela said that it was high time that the ETC analysed its operations in the light of changes in the educational, vocational and employment fields in recent years.
Unemployment had increased and there were substantial numbers of unemployed who did not register for work. One had to look at the conditions of work and workers' rights. There was a second, unofficial, ETC at Marsa where illegal immigrants were being offered work illegally and were being exploited. The number of unemployed seeking manual work, amounting to about 55 per cent, showed that the ETC had a great challenge to train these people.
On aid to industry Mr Abela said that the ETC had to increase collaboration to offer more training. He criticised the Prime Minister for recent statements on the increase in the public deficit being due to giving aid to overcome the recession. As Malta relied on human resources the ETC had to convince employers that unemployed in their 40s still had a good potential for work.
Labour MP Gino Cauchi asked why half of those trained failed to find employment. Was the ETC finding illiteracy among school leavers? The registered unemployed reached the 6,300 mark, and 27,410 worked only part-time for their main livelihood. Many were working under definite and abusive contracts, with workers being denied benefits.
Foreign workers from EU countries were being given employment which could be performed by Maltese. Those from East European countries were being given lower wages while Maltese were denied of their right to work. Other foreigners were engaged in work not as defined in their work permits.
Mr Cauchi said illegal immigrants were being exploited and given very low wages. Was the ETC making enough inspections to ensure that illegal immigrants were not being treated as quasi-slaves? What enforcement measures were being taken?
Marie Louise Coleiro Preca (PL) said she would have expected the government to dwell more on its employment policies in times of crisis and look ahead. This would also have helped the opposition to speak constructively on this annual occasion to debate the ETC.
The real results of the ETC's efforts were to be read in the feeling of the man in the street. Investment did not drop from the skies. It only followed detailed market research with encouraging results.
The heavily-raised utility tariffs had brought important enterprises to their financial knees. It was useless to say one would pay for what one used. Other governments were waiving chunks of revenue and forking out millions in order not to overburden their employers. The government of Cyprus had approved €350 million to help its tourism and manufacturing, but the government in Malta was adamant on taking 50 cents from every tourist for every night.
Ms Coleiro Preca said she was still expecting the ETC to study in depth the part-time work phenomenon. Also in this vein were sub-standard wages and conditions of work. A number of illegalities should also be looked into, such as utilising illegal immigrants instead of the local labour.
Poverty and social exclusion of families was also when both parents had to work long hours and only bring back meagre earnings that were not enough to make ends meet.
On childcare, Ms Coleiro Preca asked when these centres would take off in a meaningful way. This was another issue for the House Social Affairs Committee to look into, she concluded.