A stark warning was yesterday given by Marsa Open Centre CEO Terry Gosling, in the fact that “history has shown us that dehumanising people is a slippery slope”.

Mr Gosling was speaking at a seminar on irregular migrants and the Maltese labour market, organised by the Centre for Labour Studies at the San Gorg Corinthia. Mr Gosling said that boat people were people who were seeking asylum. “They are not illegal and they are not klandestini. Do not dehumanise people, history has shown us that doing that is a slippery slope that we surely do not want to follow,” he said.

Mr Gosling also pointed out that there were a lot of “invisible” irregular immigrants from Libya or Kurdistan who pretend they are from Palestine and seek asylum.

“You can just go by City Gate in Valletta and it’s sex, drugs and rock and roll for these invisibles while there are other real asylum seekers queuing for work in Marsa,” he said.

He said that the situation in Marsa when it came to people being hired for casual and informal work was appalling. “But it is a system which has been there for hundreds of years and the immigrants simply started using it,” he said.

Mr Gosling also spoke about the issue of benefits for migrants who are without work. “They get Lm17 per month. Can anyone round this table seriously say that they would be able to live on that? If you are a mother with children to care for, you might end up prostituting yourself. If you are a man, you might probably break into a car and steal from it, and that is the reality,” he said. He also said it was a known fact that Malta has a labour shortage. “If all immigrants were to leave tomorrow, you can be sure that we would be round the table discussing how we could attract more African people to fill the gap,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ahmed Bughri – a Maltese national originally from Ghana, gave a contrasting view as a person who came to Malta 16 years ago, married and settled here.

“When I first came 16 years ago, there were maybe five black people in the whole of the country. And although it was hard, I had to adapt to Maltese culture, I think the Maltese have been very generous,” he said.

However, Mr Bughri said he believed that the problem was one of cultural differences. “You have to remember that Africa is not like Malta. The African people are not used to a law or regulation for everything, that is why they sometimes get exploited,” he said. He also recalled how his wife used to tell him not to do or say certain things as they were offensive to Maltese people. “You live and you learn, but it is more a culture gap I believe,” he said.

He also spoke out against one particular political party which told people that African people are “invading” Malta. “People should not say such things. Africans who come here only want to find a job, and most of them would rather be in Europe anyway, they do not want to invade Malta, that is absurd,” he said.

He also recounted a visit he recently paid to one of the immigrant centres. “I have never been an irregular immigrant, yet the soldier at the gate spoke to me as if I was one. When I told him I was Maltese and that my ID card ended with an ‘M’ he told me that I would still never be Maltese,” he said. Mr Bughri said that to integrate immigrants one had to accept them first.

Joseph Farrugia from the Malta Employers Association also spoke and said the MEA was against all forms of exploitation of workers, whether they were Maltese or foreign. He also said that the labour market was facing shortages and reminded all present that there were some 7,000 foreigners working in the country. “We need to look at the situation as an all-round opportunity,” he said. He said that apart from integrating workers, there also needed to be measures to help employers in the process of employing immigrants as there were red-tape and specifics involved.

He also said that exploitation of Maltese workers was not uncommon. “It is something we see all over the world. It is also unfair on legitimate employers who abide by the rules as it becomes unfair competition for them,” he said.

Speaking about the informal employment situation, Mr Farrugia said that it is all down to demand and supply. “Small contractors hire people for small jobs then let them go and then employ more when there is more work available. This is not what the MEA stands for and not what Maltese culture stands for either,” he said.

Mr Farrugia concluded by saying that irregular migrants brought a lot of unknown factors with them and that in turn bred prejudice and fear. “We need to turn that into opportunities for all concerned,” he said.

Union Haddiema Maghqudin deputy secretary general Joe Vella also spoke and said that once Malta accepted irregular migrants, it had to care for them. “And I do not mean by charity, I mean by safeguarding their fundamental rights,” he said. He also said that the country needed to invest in people. “People talk about the economy, but in reality, the people make the economy tick over. Colour of skin or race or creed should not even be a factor,” he said.

He said that the union believed in the concept of a day’s pay for a day’s work.