It is true, as someone once said, that times change and we have to learn how to change with them. Unlike yesteryear, today, many public works jobs of whatever genre are farmed out to independent contractors. So far, so good.

We have gone a long way from those days when nearly all public initiatives were executed directly by the different government ministries. In this day and age, it is generally accepted, even, to a certain degree, by left-leaning governments, that the way forward is to engage the private sector. In fact, in the west, Malta not excluded, the drive has been for lesser government and to move away from an all-encompassing administration, which, in the past, would assume the role of a pater familias.

People in politics nowadays accept the notion that the Executive is there to direct policy and not to actually run public enterprises or engage directly in public endeavours. Some might argue this present Administration, however, has in fact gone too far in this regard. This is possibly the result of an overreaction to the state of affairs of days gone by. It is, however, not my intention to dwell into the merits or demerits of this political philosophy. My objective here is to highlight our workers’ plight as a result of all this.

I do not intend to make a case against the contracting of private entrepreneurs in the execution of public initiatives. On the other hand, however, the Labour Party, and I dare say rightly so, feels enraged at the insensitivity shown by the Prime Minister and his government with regard to the conditions of employment being imposed on labourers and workers in general employed by the private sector in the implementation of government tenders.

I was dumbfounded, to say the least, to discover first-hand the humiliating and poor conditions these are being forced to work under. In all major contracts, which, by the way, strangely seem always to be allotted to the same handful of people, what seems à priori to interest the government is the price to be paid. I say this even with certain scepticism because once the contract is sealed the government never seems to find any objection in revisiting the agreed-to price lists to accommodate the particular contractor. The government, amazingly, never includes any clause in these particular contracts aiming at protecting the dignity and welfare of the people to be employed.

It is now public knowledge that in most instances these are engaged on a day-to-day basis, earn less than the minimum wage, are exempt from the protection of labour laws and are not entitled to any benefits such as sick leave or normal holidays. There are, therefore, thousands of workers on the fringes of poverty.

When we consider all this, the Prime Minister can in no way be considered as a working-class hero.

Undoubtedly, the Labour opposition is right in pointing out and emphasising this unhappy state of affairs, where, it seems, the standard of living of the working class has regressed alarmingly. It is high time the government reconsiders this unhappy policy and it should do so urgently because more and more people are ending up working under such pitiful conditions.

A new Labour government would address this situation. In considering the allocation of public contracts, the government is morally bound to take account of the working conditions being afforded to potential employees. Those companies that would bind themselves to offer the most reasonable conditions to the personnel they would need to engage in the execution of such public contracts should be awarded points in their favour.

It is also right and fitting today that, in the issue of the call for tenders, the government would also insist for the competing companies to submit the conditions of employment they would be offering to potential employees.

It is unacceptable and no longer sustainable to have a situation where the only net beneficiaries would be the bidders themselves. We have reached a point whereby, in such matters, a mere handful of businessmen have managed to heap up loads of money from public funds and this at times to the detriment of hard-working, badly paid labourers. This is no longer acceptable to me.

Dr Herrera is a Labour member of Parliament.