Chamber president urges Barroso to provide concrete help over Libya crisis

Outgoing president of the Chamber of Commerce Helga Ellul has written to EC President Jose Manuel Barroso, calling for concrete and urgent support to Euro-Med countries facing difficulties arising from the North Africa situation.

23 March 2011, 12:00am

3 min read

In her farewell speech to the Chamber closing her three-year term as President, Helga Ellul spoke about the Libya crisis and its impact on Malta and local business.

“Our country played a key role in co-ordinating and getting thousands of workers from almost ninety countries out of Libya. The efforts of our people and institutions received worldwide acclaim,” Ellul said, adding however that the events have also placed the Chamber firmly in the limelight.

“We have immediately embarked on a data gathering exercise to help our members with businesses in Libya. Through our internationalisation database, we were immediately able to identify and contact our members with business interests in Libya. We participated in a number of meetings on the matter including two at Castille in the presence of the Prime Minister. There we reported on our members’ major concerns and also made some concrete proposals in terms of sustaining employment and cash-flow.”

“We raised the matter as well with Commissioner John Dalli during the Business Breakfast organised by MBB earlier this month. Our Vice President Stefano Mallia also made strong representations within the European Economic and Social Committee,” Ellul said.

In her speech, Helga Ellul referred to a series of local issues, mainly the market, COLA pressures and competitiveness.

While urtging government to put an end to the “never ending saga2 of Eco-Contributions, Helga Ellul stressed on theextensive delays in the reimbursement processfor the Training Aid Framework (TAF) and the Employment Aid Programme (EAP).

“It is unacceptable for our members to be owed training funds, some dating back to before 2009. Not only does it create cash-flow issues but also it takes away the appetite for such training schemes. This is against the very spirit of our country to invest in its human resources and lifelong learning,” she said.

With regards to competitiveness, Helga Ellul stressed that the Chamber believes that the countryneeds to take a more holistic approach to competitiveness.

“There seems to be an attitude on the part of the authorities that business is always in a position to absorb further costs especially when these seem relatively insignificant. Costs, irrespective of whether they are big or small must always be justified. They must always be considered within the context of total cost.

"I say this with respect to non-labour costs such as utility rates, increase in factory rents that we have been dealing with recently but also in terms of items that influence labour costs such as pensions, COLA and family friendly measures.”

On COLA, Ellul reaffirmed the Chambers’ consistent stand.

“This should stay as an important instrument to safeguard workers' disposable incomes. However, the mechanism needs to be reviewed. We need a mechanism to ascertain the country's competitiveness position. If wage increases continue to exceed productivity gains, Malta is becoming uncompetitive especially in certain sectors.

"We have been proposing that COLA be indexed to productivity as well as to inflation. Our proposal outlines that COLA should reflect sectoral GDP growth figures to ensure that COLA paid in all sectors would be linked to the productivity in that sector.

"We have also been insisting on a clear definition of 'exceptional circumstances' which are already in the law and would permit an automatic triggering of mitigating factors for COLA, should the need arise.“

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Don't hold your breath Helga or you'll get more wrinkles.

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I don not think that the miserable COLA increment (that does not really reflect the actual cost of living increase) is the main culprit that is destroying Malta's competitiveness. There are many things that are contributing to this such as exaggerated increments and bonuses handed out to highly placed persons, taxes that are wrongly utilized, and many more things. It is evident that the gap between the rich and poor is always widening, and this is not because the lower class are not working harder, but because the distribution of wealth is incorrect. I ask the unions and administration to be cautious before agreeing to remove the only mechanism available that is currently available so that the lower paid employees are guaranteed a minimal increment to their miserable wages. COLA increments surely will not make up for the unreal price hikes in essential products, but it will help. In a small country like ours, where the labor demand and supply always favors the employer, be sure that they will use it to enslave the lower class. The lower class has always been preyed upon by the employer. I remember when some female employers infiltrated the National Council of Women of Malta and insisted that women are being discriminated against because they are not allowed to work nightshifts. Then, after these female employers convinced the council and the administration about this, it was granted that women will be able to work nightshifts ONLY if the female employees agree to it. Next, any prospective female employee that was interviewed for employment with some companies were asked the golden question, "Are you willing to work nightshifts if employed by our company?". Of course, if they the reply was negative, they were not employed. Who stood to gain from this, the employer or the employee? These are the same persons who are trying to convince the public that if the COLA is not removed, companies become uncompetitive and will have to close down, while at the same time stuffing their own pockets. Do not believe this, it is only another one of theier maneuvers to get richer.