Political honesty is undoubtedly the best policy. Political leadership is not about defeating your opponent. It is more about strategy, giving direction and making the right choices based on socially just values. Political honesty will remain the best policy albeit the price for implementingunpopular decisions might be high. While many services and goods can be obtained at a price,the credibility of the political class will continue to be eroded if political honesty remainsalmost absent. The speeches delivered by Simon Busuttil, Leader of the Opposition, one in the House and the other last Sunday at the PN Head Quarters can be easily compared to fresh air in a closed, unventilated stuffy room.
On the other side of the political spectrum when speaking during the lavish business breakfast organised by the Malta Business Weekly, Finance Minister Edward Scicluna, lectured the audience about the economy but failed to give details of the impact of the measures announced in the Budget for 2015.
I will concede the Minister for not making reference to the introduction of the hefty €0.15 tax on each bottle of wine. I trust he averted from doing so as it was too early in the day to challenge the business breakfastattendees' with wine-toasts. Nonetheless, the increase has brought local wine producers together who unequivocally voiced their concerns claiming that they were not consulted before this measured was announced. This measure will wipe-out the efforts of the local wine producers and farmers made during the past decade if not mitigated.
The Minister, a seasoned economist referred to the minimum wage briefly andruled out a revision of the minimum wage.The Minister felt the need to reassure the business community that Government have no plans to revise the minimum wage. I am sure the Minister is now well aware of the triggers on the wage structures both in the public and private sector if the minimum wage is pushed upwards and the consequences this upward push will have on pensions. Salaries and wages are intrinsically tied to workers' responsibility and skills at the place of work.
He supported his stand by referring to the EU minimum wage scoreboard. Malta is placed in the middle of the road on the EU scoreboard. Not all EU Member States have minimum wage legislation or policies. Those that have a minimum wage policy in place vary widely, from €40.15 in Bulgaria to €443.00 in Luxembourg weekly. Malta's minimum wage compareswith Portugal, Spain, Greece, Slovenia and the United States.This has been the case, save some minor adjustments, for the past years. The Minister, rightly so brought, Malta's competitiveness into play to support his stand, though competitiveness was not much of an issue when the PL was residing on the Opposition benches.
Like the rest of the workers in employment,the 3.6% of the workforce on minimum wage will receive the €0.58c cost of living adjustment in their pay packet. Minimum wage earners may notice this slight increase on their printed weekly pay-slip but will certainly not enjoy a better standard of living. Asfrom 1st January 2015 minimum wage workers will receive €4.15 instead of the current €4.14 an hour.
The €38.00 one-time cash-payment payable to most workers can be compared to the artificial sweeteners added to bitter and unpleasant tasting medicines. The increases in the wide rangeof services and goods will eat away approximately an additional €50 million from the workers purchasing power when buying the same services and goods in 2015.
The Minister moved swiftly to another subject and dealt with precarious employment issues.He cautiously,skimmed the subject without making any tangible commitments except that this issue will be addressed in 2105, if and when the current services contracts come up for renewal.It must be very awkward for the Minister to go back on the higher wage increase promise to minimum wage earners.Itbecomes even more complex as the next cluster of workers receiving a higher wage rate than the minimum wage is nearly 10% of the workforce. They receive an additional €1.74c weekly on top of the minimum wage.Pushing wages and salaries upwards without achieving a higher degree of productivity may cost workers their employment.
The "living wage proposal" document proposed by the PL to combat poverty and social exclusion has long been thrown out of the window. On the contrary government intends to fight social services abuse with a one-size-fits-all draconian measure.This is a very insensitive budget measure. It is now very clear most of the PL promises were nothing but a political ploy far from honest, responsible and social just initiatives.