Forum reiterates importance of addressing low-income families’ financial issues

The Forum Unions Maltin (Forum) this morning presented the Nationalist Party with a list of proposals, emphasising on the need of a national campaign against "rampant" tax evasion, while highlighting the dire need of financially assisting low-income families.

In a comment to MaltaToday on the union's stand on increasing the national minimum wage, Forum's secretary-general Paul Pace stood by the union's demand but said claims of a wage "freeze", as being stated by the Prime Minister, were "too harsh".

"It is important that low-income families are immediately given financial assistance to help improve their quality of life, despite proposals to lower energy tariffs by the PL. The government needs to address the problem of low-income families immediately and not wait for the economy to stabilise some day."

Pace was referring to a recent Caritas study, A Minimum Budget for a Decent Living, which concluded that the minimum essential budget for a household of two adults and two children is estimated at €10,634, a lone parent and two children at €8,581 and for two older persons at €6,328.Caritas proposed that statutory minimum wage increases from around €150 per week to at least €180.

Labour leader Joseph Muscat has said that a "populist move" to increase minimum wage would burden employers with new costs and increase pressure on workers, pledging instead to reduce energy tariffs in a bid to "improve people's quality of life" and "improve businesses' competitiveness".

The Malta Employers Association (MEA) supported Muscat's statement, saying that "simply raising the minimum wage carries the risks that the labour market will be destabilised, that it could lead to a loss of jobs and could work against the interests of the vulnerable groups which the measure will be supposed to help".

Pace said that it was important that a worker had his or her spending power increased to help boost the economy, with a minimum wage freeze only harming the economy because it would give less spending power, comparing a mimum wage freeze to the same way Greece adopted austerity measures.

Forum president John Bencini said that it was important that any party in government reviewed Forum's proposals since it represented a great deal of workers from a variety of professions, and which played a vital role in the motor of Malta's economy.

In turn, PN secretary-general Paul Borg Olivier assured Forum members present at the PN party headquarters that the party "would be more than happy to address Forum's issues" (which address workers in the health and education sectors), "since the PN's main aim is to build on and further strengthen the three pillars keeping society together - work, education and health - the party's main electoral slogan.

On the PL's proposals of leaving the mimimum wage as is if it were to govern, referring to the PL's proposal as nothing but a "mimumum wage freeze", Borg Olivier said that such declarations brought to light the difference in both parties: "The PN is against a mimimum wage freeze".

Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil, who recently declared that he would be contesting the next round of the general elections and who was present at this morning's meeting, said that since he had been entrusted by the Prime Minister to represent the party in government during initial discussions held by government and Forum officials last March, it meant a lot to him that he was once again present during a meeting with Forum's members which saw the confederation joining the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development (MCESD) since then.

Forum had been constrained to meeting outside MCESD meetings after the Forum had sent an application back in 2004 to join but was never acknowledged. Earlier this year, Forum was granted full MCESD membership.

Busuttil said that "after a few misunderstandings were cleared between government and Forum, it is very positive that Forum now forms part of MCESD", ensuring Bencini that "all proposals will be reviewed and dealt with accordingly".