The process of globalisation has, over the years, had its positive points, but it has also caused devastation and great personal hardship to thousands of workers all over the world. The need to streamline international trade by way of kick-starting national economies everywhere has led to a vast vacuum in the field of traditional industries and related skills and a colossal loss of jobs, as the world – and Europe in particular – has helplessly watched on.
During a recent breakfast seminar to discuss the pre-Budget document, GWU secretary-general Tony Zarb rightly brought up the need for a national strategy that is aimed at creating more green jobs to compensate for the haemorrhage that has plagued many a formerly strong economy.
This is a reality that needs to be acknowledged. It is also a reality that workers everywhere in the world, and their families, have been living at considerable personal expense, for it directly affects their lifestyle and threatens the very future of the younger generation.
Trade unions and politicians on the centre-left are, however, optimistic that they can restart the process of job creation by resorting to an economy that fosters green ideas, an awareness that we can turn environmental ambitions into projects that automatically produce employment. European Socialists and Democrats continue to insist on a quicker and more concentrated approach to the development of a green economy that will, in turn, demand an increase in the number of green jobs.
A future of green jobs for both Maltese and other European citizens is not a pipedream. It is a plan that looks ahead even further than the EU’s own 2020 targets. Our economy can produce the required green jobs – architects and designers, educators, biologists, workers in the hospitality and ecological tourism fields and emissions experts, and even gardeners, the installers of solar panels and skills related to waste management and recycling, to name a few – especially once the emphasis falls heavily on the production of renewable energy.
Inside the European Parliament, I have – and will continue to do so – specifically raised the subject of EU funds that can be tapped to help workers who lose their jobs as a result of globalisation.
Even from the Opposition benches, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had already made sure Malta did not let such funding opportunities be lost. His direct and significant appeal to the previous Nationalist government for the acquisition of our fair share of the European Adjustment Fund helped jolt the preceding incumbent out of his slumber while 650 textiles workers were losing their jobs.
The fund was established in 2006 and became functional in 2007. Since then European Socialists and Democrats have been insisting on its exploitation for the creation of new skills and the introduction of training schemes that would give priority to green jobs and the formation of a spreading network of renewable energy sources.
More green jobs would also mean less precarious work. An economy that depends on precarious employment can only limp forward. One that builds on the concept of renewable energy and other environmental targets can only grow. Green jobs also spare workers and their families the humiliation of precarious employment that robs them of their right to better conditions and better incomes, both of which are, after all, protected by Maltese and European laws.
Renewable energy was a majority priority for Labour even when in Opposition. In power, it is now in a position to see that its commitment takes the form of concrete action. With the help of the private sector, there should be no doubt that Malta can look forward to a better energy policy that thrives on guaranteed power supplies at reasonable rates for both families and industry. This issue actually formed an important part of the Labour Party’s election manifesto for the 2009 European Parliamentary elections.
This commitment to jobs in general and green jobs in particular in the energy sector is reflected in the government’s drive to attract more foreign investment. The recent accords reached with the governments of Libya and China no doubt attest to this.
This is not the rejuvenation of a dormant policy, but a new policy altogether. It is bringing promises and commitments to fruition as quickly as possible in a world that is tired of the old methods. This is why Malta can look forward to greener energy sources that will result in more green jobs.
Joseph Cuschieri is the Labour Party’s Head of Delegation at the European Parliament
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