Our island has for long bridged the gap between Europe and North Africa for commerce and military conquests. This has resulted in the colonisation of Malta for millennia until 1964 when Malta achieved independence from Britain. Since then the Maltese people managed their self-rule successfully and indeed the first jobs in the manufacturing industries and hotels started to kick off in the labour market. However, Malta had already developed a long tradition of international migration since it was colonised and subsequently, post World War II Malta experienced a period of outward migration for several reasons.

Since our island’s independence, with the General Workers’ Union (GWU) being one of the contributors, the Maltese economy started to take shape and the standard of living to improve. The manufacturing and tourism industries flourished, jobs were being created and the Maltese workers’ loyalty and diligence during the years helped to attract foreign direct investment to our country. Yet, globalisation also managed to leave its impact on tiny Malta and indeed in terms of the labour market the Maltese did face and are still facing relocations of multinationals from Malta to other countries such as China, India and Eastern Europe. But during these last years, one of the major issues the Maltese people were made to face, and still are facing, is regular and irregular migration.

The number of foreign migrants and their proportion to the total Maltese population has risen over time and indeed the perceived consequences are worrying. This statement is not intended to create alarm but is the way things stand at the moment. To make matters worse as a country we still have not established best practices and have not yet recognised the valid contribution these potential ‘citizens’ can make to our country. It is a pity to have academics and skilled people among these migrants whom the Maltese taxpayers are financing, who are not being properly channelled to make a proper contribution to the economy by using their skills, profession or talents. Contrary to this they are literally left to the mercy of ‘contractors/employers’.

In this present state of affairs, it might be important if those having a refugee status and others on humanitarian grounds were to have their employment regularised and benefit from employment conditions placed on an equal level with the Maltese. This will not only serve the noble and just purpose of equality, but will also uphold the Maltese workers’ rights. That is not to be disadvantaged in the labour market by having to compete unfairly with a supply of cheaply paid workers.

Concretely, the GWU is a union truly based on solidarity. As a matter of fact, among its membership base, the union also embraces members either classified as expatriates and/or refugees. Yet, since migrants’ numbers compounded with their difficulties are on the increase the union has for some time now endorsed a policy paper focusing on the challenges Maltese society has to face as a consequence of this issue.

Definitely the GWU does not differentiate between workers as long as they perform the same work, however and unfortunately it is common knowledge, and even the authorities know, that there are cases of workers’ exploitation especially of migrant workers in Malta. Additionally, as stated above there is also a job mismatch issue. In reality these people are very often vulnerable to racism, acts of near slavery and other forms of discrimination and this is due to various facts. These include lack of policies, guidelines, legislation and proper monitoring. Malta is experiencing irregular migration even from other parts of Europe but the majority belong to African countries. To make matters worse often these migrants do not seek Malta as their final destination but due to known, logistical reasons a sizeable number of them end up on our island.

That these ‘workers’, especially those with a dark skin, are exploited and more often than not work in precarious jobs is a fact. Exploited to the extent that they are ordered to work long hours, paid very low wages and very often much less than the minimum wage, sometimes not paid at all and reported to the authorities for undeclared work by the ‘employer’ himself. We have heard of stories where these ‘workers’ were exposed to danger in their work without being protected minimally for health and safety. Pitifully, few of these so-called ‘employees’ voice their concerns and very often do so under condition of anonymity. They are afraid of victimisation and of losing their job or worse still, reported and sent back to their country of origin. On the other hand, they desperately need money to live a better life then the open/close centres offer and more importantly for them they want to send money to their families.

One can explore additional difficulties migrant workers face.

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