The government has forgotten workers and is using the Worker's Day meeting on Tuesday only to show off Labour's strength and to rally his troops against those who speak out against corruption, PN Leader Adrian Delia said on Sunday morning.
During a phone-in on the PN's radio station, Delia also insisted that the government must not only explain where the €40 million that Malta paid extra on LNG gas went, but also has to pay that money back to the people.
Delia said the PN was the only political party that was listening to and speaking for workers. He spoke of worsening working conditions, where people were being forced to work up to 80 or 90 hours a week just to make ends meet. "Some workers might earn €900 in pay and another €900 in overtime. That is not living. These workers have become slaves to the system."
He said the rise in salaries was nowhere near the rise in property and rent prices.
The gap between the many who had little and the few who have a lot was also getting wider, Delia said.
While Muscat was holding a mass meeting to counter the recent revelations, the PN would be meeting with workers at their place of work. This will be done up to and beyond 1 May, he said.
On Tuesday Malta will also celebrate 14 years since joining the EU. Delia said Malta's accession to the EU had happened under a PN government, which believed in the Maltese people. On the other hand the Labour Party had tried to scare people, including by telling them that entry into the EU would bring about embryo freezing. "Today we know how different the situation is. We have seen the work opportunities that the EU has brought with it. And we can also see how embryo freezing is today being introduced by the PL, a party that believes that embryos are not people."
Delia said the PN would not forget the people, in fact it would keep regaining strength by meeting with them at home and at the workplace. The country, he said, needed long-term views about the labour market, tourism, education and the elderly.
The PN leader said a PN government would not line the pockets of a few, like the Labour administration was doing. He referred to the recent reports, published as part of the Daphne Project, that claimed that Malta was losing some €40 million a year through the LNG supply deal. The reports said that Malta was losing millions by using Socar (a partner in the Electrogas consortium) as a middleman, instead of going directly to the source.
"We need to find out where these €40 million went. But an explanation is not enough – the government has to give this money back to the people." Delia added that €40 million were just for one year, and the government had bound itself by an 18-year contract, with the price fixed for the first ten years.
"The government must give back what it stole," he said, adding that this also included the hospitals.
Delia said he would attend the anti-corruption demonstration in Valletta because he wanted to hear the people say no to corruption.
He spoke about the growing culture of activism, of people with no political background who are taking to the streets to speak up. This showed a growing anger towards the government, he said.
Delia also referred to a series of stories, published by this newsroom, detailing how people were being charged much higher rates by the utilities billing company – ARMS.
from The Malta Independent https://ift.tt/2JDT1bp
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