Thousands of foreign workers exploited in Malta say union leaders

Precarious work is not exclusive to foreign nationals, workers from non-EU countries are in a worse situation because the danger of being expelled from the country keeps them from reporting abusive employment conditions.

Last week, MaltaToday revealed that foreign workers are being made to work over 60 hours per week for a miserly hourly net wage of just over €3.60 by a top security firm which sub-contracts workers to other companies.
Last week, MaltaToday revealed that foreign workers are being made to work over 60 hours per week for a miserly hourly net wage of just over €3.60 by a top security firm which sub-contracts workers to other companies.

Trade union leaders have confirmed that thousands of foreign nationals are engaged in precarious work in Malta but the majority do not report abusive conditions because of fear of losing their job and being kicked out of the country.

In recent weeks, reports on the exploitation of Asian workers in the manufacturing sector and of Eastern Europeans and sub-Saharan migrants have shed some light on the extent of precarious work in Malta.

However, although trade unions and NGOs insist that the reported cases are only the tip of the iceberg, the response by the government and authorities regulating work conditions has been muted. 

Questions sent to the social dialogue and civil liberties ministry, which is responsible for the Department of Industrial and Employment Relations, remained unanswered.

According to official statistics there are some 9,700 EU citizens working in Malta, apart from another 11,500 non-EU nationals.

But according to the leaders of the two major trade unions in Malta, thousands of foreign workers are invisible and serve as a disposable army of labourers for abusive employers.

General Workers Union boss Tony Zarb told MaltaToday that although precarious work is not exclusive to foreign nationals, workers from non-EU countries are in a worse situation because the danger of being expelled from the country keeps them from reporting abusive employment conditions.

Last week, MaltaToday revealed that foreign workers are being made to work over 60 hours per week for a miserly hourly net wage of just over €3.60 by a top security firm which sub-contracts workers to other companies.

Documents published by MaltaToday revealed the extent of the precarious employment of foreign workers in Malta, with some employees working for over 80 hours per week. Apart from working for longer hours and not being paid overtime according to the law, a number of employees were threatened and warned not to report the matter.

Most of these exploited workers are employed in the construction sector while substantial numbers are also employed as cleaners and security agents. However, recent reports which were given prominence in the media showed that the problem also exists in the manufacturing sector, with Vietnamese workers claiming they were paid only €600 for eight months’ work at Chinese-owned Leisure Clothing Ltd.

“This situation has been going on for years and when the GWU spoke about the problem, especially in the construction industry, we were personally threatened because we aired their dirty laundry,” Zarb said.

He explained that the union knows of some cases where third country nationals (TCNs) were employed in precarious conditions in the construction industry for a number of months and once the project they were working on was completed, their employer called the police and reported them for being in Malta without the necessary permits. 

Asked why unions do not take further action other than exposing such abuses, Zarb said that since many TCNs are employed illegally they do not report the abusive conditions to unions or the competent authorities out of fear.

While appealing to exploited workers to come forward and contact the union, the outgoing GWU secretary-general said that the onus is on the government to protect workers and address precarious work.

“We have submitted a number of proposals on precarious work ahead of the 2015 Budget and if the government does not introduce measures against precariousness we will not be happy with the budget,” he said.

Noting that the GWU has been at the forefront of the struggle against the exploitation of workers, Zarb said “the government is duty-bound to do something because the union cannot do it alone”.

Echoing Zarb’s call for further action, Union Haddiema Maghqudin secretary-general Josef Vella underlined the fact that the majority of exploited workers are not unionised, meaning that cases reported to the union are few and far between.

“The plague of precarious work in Malta is far bigger than one would think, it involves thousands of people,” he said, adding that the biggest problems arise at workplaces where workers are not unionised or where no collective agreement is in place.

He added that subcontracting workers from other companies does not absolve abusive employers. “Companies that use subcontractors are also responsible and employment conditions must be upheld whether workers are employed directly or indirectly.”

Asked what needs to be done to address precarious work, Vella said “If we really want to address precariousness, employers must be obliged not only to submit contracts to the Employment and Training Corporation but they should also submit it to a national database accessible online to ensure that minimum requirements are met.”

He added that other solutions, such as the creation of cooperatives – promised by the government last year – would also address the situation. “However, politicians have only paid lip service and so far this measure has not been implemented.”