Robert ‘the firefighter’ Abela vs Bernard ‘all over the place’ Grech

Robert Abela and Bernard Grech were in a combative mood in a bid to galvanise enthusiasm among core supporters when addressing them on Workers’ Day.

Coming a year before MEP elections when polls suggest both parties risk losing ground to apathy and disillusionment, there tone was not surprising.

But a difference in style was evident in the pitch made by the two leaders on May Day.

In a short 30-minute speech Abela was strategic in focusing on a few ‘deliverables’ clearly aimed at quelling both internal and wider social discontent. On the flipside, Grech was all over the place in his bid to present his party as the only bulwark against the Labour government’s excesses.

Betraying the parties’ fears

In many ways Grech’s approach in channelling popular anger at some of the government’s decision betrays the party’s fear of losing ground to civil society organisations like Repubblika.

Abela’s focus on housing affordability and planning issues coupled with his repeated reference to the party’s identity as a workers’ party betrays a sense of unease about its direction.

Unlike Grech, Abela as prime minister has the advantage of being able to present solutions which can be implemented.

His emphasis that tax refund cheques will start being mailed next Monday was an attempt at stoking hope in the face of rising inflation. But while the refund will to some extent address the shortfall in incomes, this measure has lost novelty and risks becoming perceived as a bonus which people take for granted.

Environmental firefighting

Moreover, Abela’s approach increasingly looks like that of a firefighter who reacts to problems rather than nipping them in the bud.

Amidst public criticism of his party’s links with big construction groups and resignations like that of Xaghra mayor Christian Zammit and criticism from Gzira mayor Conrad Borg Manche, Abela announced a long overdue tinkering of planning laws to stop works on projects being challenged in appeals.

The move is a nod to environmental activists but still falls short of an overhaul of policies and local plans which could tilt the balance in favour of environmental protection.

Curiously Abela’s strategic approach suggests that rather than corruption which he did not even feel the need to address in his speech, the main threats facing Labour’s hegemony are inflation, housing affordability and planning issues.

No convincing narrative

By contrast Grech used his speech to open a broadside on a wide range of issues ranging from Jean Paul Sofia’s death and the hospital scandal to the impact of foreign workers, and finally the partiality of public broadcasting.

In so doing he lacked focus, tripping from one issue to another without presenting them in a convincing and effective narrative.   

Grech’s speech suggests that over the past years the list of issues which can be weaponised by the Opposition has increased and the PN can no longer be accused of being obsessed with the corruption issue.

However, Grech still struggles to convey a coherent message which prioritises the issues which are more likely to mobilise both supporters and lure those who are presently voting with their feet.

Grech missed a golden opportunity to reach out to nurses by supporting their demand for higher renumeration and better worki conditions while standing in front of the disused St Luke’s Hospital.

Moreover, while it is Labour which is now dealing with signs of internal disunity and ideological disorientation manifested in the dissent on planning issues expressed by the Gzira and Xaghra mayors, the PN has rediscovered a sense of unity and purpose.  However, to keep the peace Grech remains in debt with Delia whom he had to once again single out for praise after the latter’s backers strung up banners thanking Delia for bringing the hospitals by winning the court case.

Elephant in the room

One consequence of transforming Workers’ Day into a partisan affair, is that this leaves little space for civil society and trade unions to ponder on problems facing the working class.

Moreover, certain issues which should be central for the day, were either conveniently thrown under the carpet or weaponised as was the case with the treatment of the foreign workers issue by Grech and Abela.

For sure in 2023 one cannot speak about a Maltese “working class” without referring to the over 50,000 workers imported from outside the European Union, whose numbers have grown tenfold in the past decade.

Their exploitation especially in cases where these workers are recruited by agencies to whom they remain indebted, was the elephant in the room which merited both reflection and action on Workers’ Day.

They don’t vote

In his speech Abela went out of his way to affirm his party’s credentials as a workers’ party.

But how can one reconcile the party’s identification with the working class with its failure to address the exploitation of what is now a significant segment of the working class?

Moreover, Abela relies on an economic model which partly depends on tax revenue from a greater pool of workers generate wealth which can be redistributed in tax rebates, and thus partly mitigate the impact of rising prices.

But this raises the question; is Abela’s social model dependent on an economic model whose hidden underbelly defies the very socialist values it stands for?

Since foreign workers don’t vote, Abela does not feel the same urgency to address this issue in the same way as he has reacted to criticism on environmental and planning issues.

For example, faced with internal criticism on planning decisions, Abela had to give his critics a pound of flesh, by announcing a tinkering of planning laws aimed at halting works on projects which are still being appealed.    

But Abela has not reacted to a speech by former leader Alfred Sant in his address to the party’s general conference two weeks ago did not mince his words on the economy’s dependence on low-paid workers. “We must not forget the foreign and Maltese workers on a miserable pay. It is a truth that our economy is dependent on low wages. This injustice must be fixed. No one should be forgotten,” Sant had said.

And while Abela ignored the proverbial elephant in his room the issue was addressed by Opposition leader Bernard Grech.

Weaponising foreigners

But in doing so Grech walked on a tightrope between justified moral outrage at the exploitation of these workers and a cheap attempt to weaponize the presence of these workers by depicting it as a threat to the native working class.

Grech said that “it’s unacceptable to lose our soul for greed and money” and that he wants “a just country” but on the other hand he warns that “whenever the Maltese worker tries to fight for a higher wage, they find a foreign worker ready to work the same job for practically nothing. This is unacceptable.”   

In this sense while Abela seems bent on using foreign labour as a sheer resource for economic growth, with very little interest in addressing the problems it creates, Grech risks nurturing an ‘us vs them’ culture in which the foreign other, apart from being a victim is also perceived as a threat.

Grech does not blame those exploiting these workers or call for concrete measures aimed at improving working conditions for these workers, limiting himself to denouncing an abstract economic model for which he can blame Labour.

Moreover, this generic assertion does not reflect the reality emerging from statistical data which suggests that workers from outside the EU are mostly taking up lowly paid jobs which for good reason the native working class is shunning

In fact, over the last decade, the portion of Maltese workers earning less than €20,000 fell by 30% to be squarely taken up by lower-paid, non-EU workers.

In 2012 there were 108,000 Maltese nationals earning less than €20,000 a year; a decade later they fell to 77,000. In all other salary bands, there was an increase in the Maltese workforce. The same data suggests that many of these jobs were directly filled by lower-paid migrants from outside the European Union. In fact, the largest increases in TCNs were in those salary bands that fall below €20,000: from a mere 3,000 in 2012 to 29,000 in 2022.

Grech also vaguely hints that a future PN government will embark on a new immigration policy where the skills of foreign workers, especially in new sectors, are transferred to local workers so that their conditions can increase. But this fails to explain how the PN will tackle exploitation in sectors like catering and construction where third country nationals cater for the increased demand for unskilled jobs.  And while it makes sense to advocate a shift towards “new” economic sectors which pay Maltese and foreigners alike better wages, such a shift can only take place in the long term which means that the pressing issue of precarious working conditions must still be addressed in the short term.