Working conditions must be fair and equal for all workers, regardless of whether they are local or foreign, EU Commission Vice-President Jyrki Katainen told The Malta Independent yesterday.
An issue regarding foreign workers recently arose in Malta after a company called TACA begal flying Turkish construction workers to Malta to work on a number of major private projects. The company has denied reports that it is paying its workers below the minimum wage. TACA is one of a number of international construction companies that submitted a bid for the redevelopment of the Fortina Hotel in Sliema and the DB Group's City Centre project on the former ITS site in St Julian's.
Recently, former Finance Minister Tonio Fenech spoke about the possible scenario of cheap foreign labour. He said that when importing cheap labour to sustain economic growth, in terms of the theory of supply and demand, if supply is meeting demand at a low price, then these low wage levels become the benchmark for the rest of the economy. He said that Maltese workers who aspired to have a better a wage while working in the construction sector for example are having their ambitions crushed, "as they will be told they are not needed as workers paid €800 a month could be brought in from abroad to carry out the same work".
This newsroom asked the Commissioner about the large influx of foreign third-country workers, and concerns regarding negative effects on salaries.
"All workers must have the same rules and rights. It is unacceptable if they are paid less, or if social security contributions are not paid. In some countries, there is a need to expand the labour force, including through workers coming from outside Europe, but the conditions must be fair, meaning that they need to be the same for domestic and third country workers... Conditions must be fair and equal foe everybody"
Asked how the job market doing at EU level, and whether the EU needs more such workers on the whole or if economic migration needs to be limited he said: "Currently the labour market is developing positively. Employment has never been as high as it is today. There are some issues in some member states especially on youth unemployment, which is a real challenge. But when looking at the medium and long term we need more people in the EU's labour market. Many member states today are setting up national schemes that attract people from third countries to participate in the labour market as the population is ageing."
"In order to keep our competitiveness we need more people... As I said before, conditions must be the same for everybody."
Recently the Maltese Prime Minister said that Malta had to abide by the EU's Posting of Workers Directive, which regulates how EU companies can post workers to other EU member states. While it has been said that the directive needs to be changed, no third-country contractor will be allowed to use legal loopholes in order to exploit workers or place Maltese workers and companies at an unfair advantage, he said.
In view of there being a loophole according to government, this newsroom asked the EU Commissioner about a possible loophole regarding third country companies not having to abide by EU country laws, and this newsroom asked the Commissioner how the EU intends to fix or remedy the situation.
"We have a general regulation which says that all people have the same rights and obligations, and all workers must be treated equally. Some labour market regulations are connected to EU countries dealing with other EU country activities, but in general terms there is no legislation whatsoever which would allow third country nationals to be treated differently in our labour market."
Asked about efforts being made to apprehend the masterminds behind the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, and whether he believes Europol and EU authorities should play a larger role in major cases like this, he said: "Security issues are in the hands of member states, but of course this is of interest to the whole EU as freedom of the press, human dignity and security are not just national issues, but are wider EU issues. This is why we welcome cooperation between member states on this issue. The EU is very keen on seeing the concrete results, as what happens in one member state may have an impact on the security or public order related issues in other member states."
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