(Adds Tony Zarb's address)

Any government stimulus through increased expenditure should be channeled towards protecting jobs in the private sector which were more exposed to the ravages of the global crisis, Employers Association director general Joe Farrugia said.

Addressing the the International Labour Conference in Geneva, he said that this had to be done instead of increasing wages to employees holding public sector jobs, which were virtually recession proof. Trade unions, Mr Farrugia said, had to understand this.

Mr Farrugia also referred to the time lag between a possible economic recovery and a recovery in job creation, and said that this highlighted the need for policies that were specific in their objective to safeguard existing jobs, and to generate productive employment opportunities to absorb the jobs that were lost in the shortest time possible. He added that this was no easy task and such policy responses had to be country specific in their design.

Mr Farrugia praised the government interventions to assist companies that are being negatively affected by the international recession.

Addressing the same conference, GWU secretary general Tony Zarb said families in a depressing situation due to the financial crises were eager for solutions so that they could re-achieve a decent standard of living. For this, they needed a decent job with good employment conditions.

The fact that the local banks in Malta were not affected by the financial crisis helped contain the situation to a certain degree, but it still affected employment levels.

The GWU, together with 10 other trade unions on the island, acted to put pressure on our government, which without serious consultation and at time of high economic instability, increased the water and electricity tariffs.

The union also conducted a national campaign to raise awareness on irregular migration, a national and high priority issue in Malta.

“As a union we did not intervene on the migration policy adopted last year by the EU particularly on whether burden sharing should be mandatory or not.

“But we are emphasising that migrant workers should be paid the same wages and offered the same conditions of their Maltese counterparts. In reality, a lot of abuses are taking places in the underground economy, and this is happening at the detriment of the rights that we as trade unionist strived to achieve with a lot of difficulties through the years. “These workers are vulnerable and so they are easily exploited.”

Mr Zarb said the same could be said for workers who did not know their rights and were inexperienced and as a result they easily accepted low wages and conditions for fear of losing their job.

The conference was also attended by GWU deputy general secretary Geitu Mercieca, the representative of Maltese workers on the International Labour Conference.