Joseph Muscat and Adrian Delia spar over foreign workers at GWU congress

Foreign workers have become a political battleground and this was evident on Thursday when Joseph Muscat and Adrian Delia addressed General Workers’ Union delegates.

While the Prime Minister said, foreign workers were needed to fulfil jobs created by a growing economy, the Opposition leader lamented the dependence on foreign labour.

Both leaders were addressing the GWU’s extraordinary congress being held between today and tomorrow. The congress, coinciding with the union’s 75thanniversary, has the theme, The Future is Now.

This was the first time that Delia was addressing GWU delegates since becoming leader of the Nationalist Party last year. He applauded the union for the achievements it made over the years.

Delia lamented that the economy was “too dependent” on foreign unskilled workers to the detriment of society. 

“This is causing many problems, such as an increase in traffic and construction across the island,” he said, accusing the government of having no plan.

He said the overcrowding was contributing to an unhealthy environment and insisted this was one of the reasons why depression, anxiety and stress have increased in recent years.

Asthma was also on the rise as a result of car exhaust pollution, Delia added.

Manual labourers were suffering from the influx of cheap foreign labour, Delia said, since their wages had not changed. “This effectively makes them 10% poorer,” he added.

Delia also praised PN MEP David Casa’s work on European legislation to guarantee more parental leave for working fathers and ensure better work-life balance.

But Delia’s doomsday scenario contrasted with a more upbeat description of the situation by the Prime Minister.

Muscat said that despite the increase in foreign labour in recent years there still were not enough workers to fill all the vacant positions in the country.

“Seven years ago, the issue was whether we could find enough jobs for people. Unemployment was high then but now we are seeing the complete opposite,” Muscat said, noting that Malta had registered an unprecedented 47,000 increase in the labour force last year.

The increase in the labour force meant that Malta had fulfilled its EU2020 goals on employment three years early. Malta’s employment rate was far higher than the European average, he said.

“Do we press pause since we’re facing challenges? No. There’s no such thing when it comes to the economy,” Muscat said, acknowledging that difficulties had to be addressed.

He insisted it was irresponsible to discriminate between one worker and the other since work should be defined by “solidarity and international partnership”.

He noted the GWU was already working on representing foreign workers. “Work is about solidarity after all… We are all contributing to our success.”

Muscat said that pensions would again be increased in the upcoming budget, highlighting that the economy’s growth enabled taxes to be cut, childcare and school transport to be provided for free. “All this we achieved while still registering a surplus for two consecutive years,” he added.

Turning his eyes to the future, Muscat said blockchain technologies combined with artificial intelligence and the ‘internet of things’, will change the very nature of work, Muscat argued.

“Automation will soon change our lives and the meaning of work. We need to be prepared for this, to regulate this, so future generations will be ready,” he said.

Speaking on the planned educators’ strike next Monday, Muscat said the government’s doors were wide open and there was plenty of room for discussion.

The Prime Minister appealed to the Malta Union of Teachers to sit down and discuss any issues it had with the government and to avoid industrial action.