UHM's Gejtu Vella warns against creation of ‘two-tier society’

Vella said this during EU Health and Consumer Commissioner John Dalli’s address to the UHM’s national council this morning.

“If one calculates the average wage in Malta during 2005, it was €9007, while in 2008 – the latest data available- the average wage went up to € 10,560.

“However at the same time, the percentage of those at risk of poverty has increased rather decreasing, from 13.8% in 2005 to 14.6% in 2008,” Vella told Dalli.

“This is worrying for us. We have to stimulate the Maltese Government and the EU institutions not to put their mind at rest that if the economy is growing, therefore everybody is suffering,” the UHM boss warned.

“If this does not happen, we wish a two-tier society between those who know and can, and those who don’t know and cannot,” Vella warned.

Vella explained how the UHM wants to keep a good relationship with all EU Commissioners, but especially with a Maltese commissioner “so as to influence your frame of mind so that you become the UHM’s voice in EU institutions.

The UHM Secretary-General told Dalli how in the past few weeks, the UHM had produced a document called “Viżjoni Soċjali Għalik Viżjoni 2015, which deals with education, health, family, democratic institutions, the electronic revolution and the quality of life.

“We believe that in order for the Maltese economy to move forward, there should always be at the centre the person with all its dignity. What is the use of workplace where individual dignity is not respected?” Vella asked.

“And if there is one analogy – and you will understand me immediately since you hail from Qormi – in the economic and social aspect, it is that of bread,” Vella told Dalli.

“The dough is important, like money and finances. Salt, like ideas and innovation, are important. Yeast, like effective regulators, and water, the human resources, the workers, the UHM secretary-general explained.

Vella warned that it does not mean that if we have a large economy, people will be benefiting. “We must have an effective dough between the financial aspect and the social aspect as from the beginning of the planning of these polices,” he insisted.

“One should not come before the other but they should come together. I believe that with wisdom and good work, I believe that the social aspect would also be included in the country’s economic strategy,” he added.

“Hence the person with all its dignity would also be participating and taking part and have the ownership of the strategy,” the UHM boss insisted.

EU Commissioner John Dalli explained how the global economic turmoil in 2008 had led the European Commission to come up with the 2020 strategy, “our common reply to the challenges facing our times”.

“These extraordinary circumstances have permitted us to analyse everything again, to arrive in depth and propose a new economic growth model based on knowledge and skills and social cohesion – a model which will create jobs and economic growth at a high rate and does not create CO2 emissions which we can avoid,” Dalli told the UHM National Council.

Dalli explained how the Maltese Government had also “subscribed fully to the EU 2020 strategy and like the 26 other Member States, this strategy must now be implemented in feasible and effective programmes and initiatives”.

“The foundations of the 2020 Strategy can be gathered into four words: collective action and stronger collaboration. Does such a strategy suit you?” Dalli asked Vella.

The EU health and consumer commissioner explained how on this pediment, the first layer was put up: a small number of priorities and targets for the EU.

“The priorities give the colour and form of all the work. The growth that we are aiming at should be Smart – growth that leads to the development of an economy based on wisdom, skills and innovation,” Dalli insisted.