Malta is experiencing positive results in the tourism industry and future projections are equally promising. The recently published figures by the NSO are very encouraging: a 10% increase in tourist arrivals, the number of bed-nights increased by almost 9% and visitors spent 656 million euro, an increase of almost 6%. These increases were recorded when compared with the same six months, January/June of 2015.
With such results no wonder more businesspersons are enticed to invest in the hospitality industry. Hotels and luxury apartments are all over the island and more are expected to mushroom. Whether the generated wealth is reaching the pockets of the workers directly engaged in the hospitality industry is something else.
As far as I can tell the tourism industry has always been represented by one of the leading or role model hoteliers/employers. The current MHRA President is Tony Zahra. In a recent interview Mr. Zahra revealed that hoteliers are finding it difficult to engage local workers. He attributed this to workers being spoilt for choice. He claimed that workers prefer to work between Monday and Friday.
His statement was taken with a pinch of salt. The remarks posted on the comments board below his interview differed. It was widely agreed that the locals do not want to work in the hospitality industry because workers feel shortchanged with the current rates of pay offered. Although comparisons are odious wages benchmarking is important. Other workers, in similar categories to those in the hospitality industry receive a premium for working Sundays, shifts and unsocial hours.
With the current rate of unemployment, which is exceptionally positive, salaries and wages were expected to increase. This is not the case neither in the hospitality industry and/or other sectors of the economy. This is rather strange and should be examined. It seems that our economy is creating a high percentage of low-skilled jobs with low wages. Why this situation has developed in the hospitality industry is not clear at all.
But the answer to this question may be found in the point-of-view penned by Dr Alfred Sant MEP, entitled “Tourism Paradox” published on Monday 11th July and in another piece posted on Thursday, 14th July entitled Precariousness”, both were published on this web-portal. Dr. Sant raised a point, actually, one in each piece which should be studied with great caution.
In his first piece Dr Sant asserts “Here is one issue about the island’s tourism sector that I’ve always found puzzling: We claim that tourism is one of the country’s major money spinners”. However “you’ll find that practically all new investment being proposed for hotels of a certain size has to be levered either by public land bought at a discount from government, and/or tied to a project design that reserves part of it to the building of luxury and other apartments, for sale to Maltese and foreign buyers.
Dr Sant is spot on.
In his second piece Dr Sant raised the precariousness employment issue with the European Commission. “The European Commission has published quite a number of reports but does not have one robust and clear definition as to what constitutes precarious employment”. Dr Sant rightly so questions “how can one run an effective policy against precarious employment when you have no clear idea as to what these really consist of? I would not be surprised if precarious employment continues to spread. Meanwhile no doubt rhetoric against the practice will also continue to prevail”.
Precarious employment was PL’s cavallo di battaglia.
On precarious employment the best definition I came across is the one proposed by The International Metal Workers' Federation to the International Labour Organisation – “precarious work is the result of employment practices by employers designed to limit or reduce their permanent workforce to a minimum, to maximize their flexibility and to shift risks onto workers”. Locally precarious employment has not been addressed adequately.
Years back I have crossed swords with Dr Sant then Prime Minister on various socio-economic policies which he sought to introduce. However, these two pieces penned by Dr. Sant are spot on and I fully support. Hopefully, the current administration will be humble enough to take his advice.
It is ironic to note that while government is selling public land and property at a very cheap price to handpicked entrepreneurs the precarious employment issue has only been skirted. The selected few fat cats are having it their way while thousands are pushed towards the poverty trap. The current political philosophy concept and strategy is certainly socially unjust.
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