Foreign workers trapped in vicious cycle of abuse, Indian community tells GWU

The General Workers’ Union has hit out at racist attitudes towards third-country nationals in Malta who were suffering from abusive employment practices.

The GWU met members of the Indian welfare community Satya Sanatan Dharma Sabha together with Alexander Calleja Zammit, a representative from the International Moroccan Community in Malta (IMCM), which forms part of a platform of NGOs which assist each other, and the Catholic priest Fr Colin Apap.

The GWU was told of workers arriving in Malta from outside the EU on a promise of employment, but who later suffered abuse from employers who did not deliver on what they promised.

The union said migrant workers were being asked to pay thousands of euros before coming to Malta, often resulting in their entire family being bonded by debt, on the promise that they would be finding a decent wage in a Maltese job.

“Instead, they either must work more hours than necessary to earn a salary that is equivalent to a job of 40 hours work or are given no job, which turns them into illegal overstayers, a situation that either leads to deportation or being employed illegally,” the union said.

Calleja Zammit told the GWU of various experiences of such migrant workers who arrived in Malta seeking a future, but instead were trapped into a vicious cycle of paying thousands in cash to receive nothing of what they were promised – “these negative experiences included suicide, deportation, working illegally, debts and usury, but also prostitution and human trafficking.”

“There are several Indian workers who come here to Malta and have to return to their country precisely because of the abuse they face here,” said Alexander Calleja Zammit, who said wage inequality between locals and foreign workers was aggravating racial attitudes.

“This is leading to locals seeing foreign labour as cheaper, feeling that foreigners are stealing their jobs, even if this is not true,” he said, saying foreign workers strongly supported the GWU’s position that all foreign workers in Malta should be part of a trade union, as a way of curbing abuse.

“We are pushing this agenda on the various NGO platforms we communicate with. We want things to be done correctly and for there to be no illegalities and abuse of these human beings. We are even helping some of these people who end up without money and food by offering them food in our temple,” community representatives told the GWU.

On his part, GWU Secretary General Josef Bugeja said the union was “saddened and angry at those making money stained with blood and the global prevalence of racism.”

“We need foreign workers, who are helping in economic growth, but no one should take advantage of the system and these workers. We will be helping this community as much as we can so that through their work and our help, other communities will follow the same steps for the benefit of foreign workers in our country.”

Bugeja said that with new legislation that came into effect on April 1, 2024, new rules for recruitment agencies would curb the abuse by some temping agencies that import workers from outside the EU. Through the new rules, these agencies are required to acquire a license to operate. “The GWU has long emphasized the need for rules licensing certain agencies that sub-contract workers.  We believe this radical legal change was necessary and will curb the exploitation of workers,” Bugeja said.

Bugeja hoped the new rules on recruitment would lead to an end to the exploitation of workers, especially foreign workers.