AD reiterates minimum wage increase proposal

In a statement issued this morning, AD Chairperson Michael Briguglio said: “It is high time that Malta's minimum wage is increased. 

“It is more than evident that Malta’s minimum wage does not suffice to meet the cost of living,” the AD chairperson insisted.

Briguglio lamented how more and more workers were being involved in “precarious low-paid and insecure employment especially in contractual and part-time jobs”.

A lot of people had to work more than one job “to make ends meet, and the work-life balance is heavily tilted towards the former,” he added.

Briguglio explained how an increase in the minimum wage, including that for part-timers and contractual workers on a pro-rata basis “would help improve the situation of the most vulnerable workers”.

It would also “encourage more people to enter the formal labour market, making work pay,” Briguglio said.

He insisted that such an increase “would have to be sufficient to cater for the realities of today”

This, Briguglio added, should not exclude “a realistic assessment of social benefits, as some are abysmally low or even inexistent, given that certain vulnerable groups are being excluded from them”.

He expressed disagreement with those who claimed that an increase in the minimum wage would frighten investment.

“If this is the case, how do countries with higher wages than Malta’s still attract investment?” he asked.

“Wages are just one important factor amongst others in the attraction of investment – other factors including, for example, productivity, bureaucracy, infrastructure, environmental considerations, fiscal incentives and so forth,” the AD chairperson said,.

“Unfortunately, those opposing an increase in the minimum wage include both the Nationalist and Labour Parties,” he said.

“To add insult to injury, Labour has come up with a vague living wage proposal which is devoid of clear commitment and is simply a voluntary tool,” Briguglio said.

The living wage proposals transform “workers rights to charity by benevolent employers”, the AD chairperson said.