The Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry together with worker and employer unions pledged not to protect any entity which allows discrimination to flourish between workers.

The General Workers Union, the Malta Developers Association, Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin, the Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises (GRTU), the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association, and FORUM, together with the Malta Chamber of Commerce addressed a press conference to mark Workers' Day, which was entitled "Integration through Employment."

President of the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry, Antoine Borg also declared, on behalf of all those present, that workers from all nationalities should be working together in harmony. He added that an effort needs to be made in order to maintain a “climate of respect and understanding” at the workplace.

“More than 25,000 foreign workers are currently registered to be working in Malta, contributing towards economic growth. Last year, 50% of vacant positions have been filled by foreign workers. One cannot ignore the challenge of integration that comes with it.

“People coming from outside Malta, in particular from outside Europe, can find it difficult to integrate within local culture. This can lead to situations where workers feel that they are becoming isolated and marginalised within their work place,” Mr Borg said.

“For this reason, attention is being given towards this particular challenge. We cannot tolerate any form of discrimination on the bases of nationality or otherwise,” he added.

The problem of discrimination is not widespread, Mr Borg believes, however attention has been drawn to the matter in a pre-emptive manner so as not to let the problem persist.

Secretary General of the General Workers’ Union Josef Bugeja said that even there is only one case of this happening today, we cannot accept this and need to work to stop it. He added that workers deserve equal pay for equal work – making the argument that foreigners should not accept lower wages, stressing that this could lead to worse working conditions for Maltese workers.