In his article Working More... Producing Less (February 17), Evarist Bartolo made a very valid point by saying that productivity depends on a multitude of factors. Increasing the number of hours worked as the only solution for improving productivity will not help at all. As rightly pointed out in the article, there are so many more competitive countries out there with more public holidays, that we are even ending up at the bottom of the pile in this regard... of course to the contrary of what the Maltese public has been told ad nauseam!
But this is what the Maltese nation is being led to believe by those in government. That we have so many luxuries, much more than others have, and that we are spoilt with benefits which more affluent countries simply do not have or cannot even afford! Over the past years those in government have embarked on a crusade of reducing as many entitlements and benefits across the board.
University students were made to believe it is only Malta which sponsors their studies and if any financial help exists in foreign countries this comes only in the form of scholarships or loans. One typical fable. Moral of the story: The so- called "generous" financial aid given was unsustainable for our small country with limited resources.
Workers were made to believe that they had more public holidays and that annually they worked fewer hours than the majority of their foreign counterparts. Another fable. Moral of the story: For them to become more competitive and if their jobs had to be secured they have to accept to work more.
The Maltese population at large was made to believe through the interesting fable that Malta has a very generous system of welfare benefits and that, as a moral of this old story, we have to believe their "reduction" disguised under the conveniently marketed "elimination of abuse", is imperative for the way forward. The list continues.
It has become fashionable to trumpet that we have had enough of luxuries and that we cannot keep being spoilt forever. But do the authorities really think the "average" Maltese life reflects this? If yes, then they should spend as little as a couple of months doing their same job in one of the so many developed countries considered as our counterparts, to weigh down some of the junk information they actually feed the public! I happen to live and work abroad and can quickly provide sustaining examples to my declarations.
The pity in Malta is that when one of the two major parties is in government, whichever party it may be, its loyalists believe whatever junk information they are fed. They don't question it because it is their own party. They even defend it! Ask the majority of PN loyalists about their opinion on the recently reduced public holidays and they will justify it by claiming that Malta needs it. So simple - it is the same reason the PN made them believe! The same can be said to MLP loyalists under MLP rule.
When will those in government have the guts to defend their decisions in the face of the public by true coherent facts and not by stupid fabrications?