The editorial entitled Prognosis: Negative (TMID, 9 November) can, I believe, only be lauded for its medical pun. The gist of the editorial was that the government should be praised for having been fair with the medical profession, but that this act of fairness is dangerous because everyone will clamour for equal fairness in his case. The position assumed by the editor is far removed from logic or morality. It implies that most wages are extremely low, but dreads that justice be done to redress this. Should we dread justice?

The editor also implied that this is a Pandora’s box, and that the evil spirits that spilled out shall bedevil the present or the forthcoming government. The past, present and forthcoming governments deserve the bedevilment. For too many legislations, the House complacently allowed wages in Malta to lag behind reality. Now we are part of Europe, and shoulder European obligations but contend with pathetic remuneration for hard work. The fabric is rending; we are now conscious of the price of property, which is not high in European terms, but exorbitant for Maltese wages. We are conscious of the price of essentials, which is absorbable by many European citizens, but breaks our backs.

The editor acknowledges that doctors deserve their wage, as I wrote in another newspaper. I also pointed out that the judicial sector also deserves better. May I now point out that the same applies for the common labourers, who have been indoctrinated to think that Lm400 a month is a decent – nay, princely wage, unattainable by most? Our employers have been allowed to stamp their feet in rage too often. Why do they expect so much profit when the interest rates are so low? Can they threaten to shut up shop and put their money in the bank, if the ridiculous minimum wage is raised? The only raise a worker gets lies in the even more ridiculous cost of living pin-money given in some budgets. That does not figure in the actual wage at all for pensionable concern, in most cases. But the employers stamp their feet and get their way, and their profit. We are living lies, and the editor wants to preserve the lies.

As a country, we have never understood economics; we have ignored the classic texts and invented one of our own. That works well in the poorest third world countries, where few are rich, and the system is meant to preserve that situation. We have not understood that higher wages produce greater spending power and more production. We have not understood that more spending tempts the entrepreneur to replace imports with his own products.

We have a few traditional niche-industries, with an unorganised labour force that shuts up and puts up. We have a large number of tin-pot “enterprises” that would cease to exist if wages were pushed up. We have few model employers, though they do exist. Apart from the latter, the others are led by the inhuman ideal of maximisation of profit, ironically sought at all costs! In many cases, the only competition local entrepreneurs relish is that concerning their life style in comparison to that of their peers.

A huge sector of workers does not belong to any trade union, and these people are often made to spit blood. In some sectors, the arrival of refugee workers is an ominous sign. If the Maltese worker tries to better his position he will be told that he could easily be replaced… . These are the facts, this is the malaise.

Politicians, even prominent ones, are evangelising the lie that a job for life is a thing of the past. That is rubbish. The amazing success of post-war Japan is due to the undying loyalty between employer and employee; what loyalty and what quality of work will the employer get if he fires a worker as soon as he asks for a better wage? His replacement can read his own future in the past, and live and work on a day-to-day basis. You cannot have stability when you promote instability. You cannot generate profits based on exploitation and mistrust.

I am not saying anything new, or shocking. The unions know this, the politicians know this, and both have known this for too long. So do the newspaper people, but I thought they, at least, would seek the truth. It was foolish of me to think so, for who can buy the luxuries that bedazzle the eyes of the common people every time the newspapers slip a glossy inside their pages? Who could boast of his favourite room, his yacht, his expensive wine? Who can buy the jewels, the wristwatches, the cars? Who, exactly, was the editorial intended to placate?

Charles Caruana Carabez

St Julian’s

Editorial note: The editorial referred to by Dr Caruana Carabez was not intended to placate anyone. It was intended to highlight the fact that the government, after agreeing on a substantial wage increase for doctors in the government service, will now have to face the music as other categories of workers in its employment will be seeking the same kind of treatment. And, in fact, the Malta Union of Teachers has already reared its head on the matter, writing to the OPM to complain about what it said was an “injustice”. It was never said, nor implied, that the agreement with the doctors should not have been reached, and neither did The Malta Independent say or imply that other categories of workers do not deserve a similar increase.