Updated | Labour: ‘Our position on minimum wage the same as PN’s’

Updated at 3:30pm with PN reaction.

Labour MP Chris Cardona today broadcast a video clip of finance minister Tonio Fenech from March 2010, stating a position against increasing minimum wage.

In the clip, Fenech is heard saying that an increase in minimum wage would lead to an increase in the social services bill, that would work against minimum wage earners in private employment. "It would put their jobs at risk because employers would face higher costs," Fenech is heard saying in a clip of him being interviewed by a journalist.

Cardona told a press conference today that despite both parties having a common position on minimum, the PN was resorting to a deceitful campaign by accusing Labour leader of promoting a 'minimum wage freeze'.

Cardona however said Labour "will consider increasing minimum wage in a more positive economic climate."

The Nationalist Party has accused Labour leader Joseph Muscat of flip-flopping on major policy issues, in a reaction it issued to his libel suit filed earlier this week over claims he was advocating a 'minimum wage freeze'.

Muscat has declared he will not raise minimum wage over and above the annual cost of living adjustment, and has filed a libel suit against the prime minister over claims he was advocating a freeze on minimum wage, akin to the 1983 general wage freeze.

In a reaction, the PN said Muscat was panicking: "He wants to censor what the PN is saying. He is panicking and his true colours are coming out: it's a party anchored to the past, wage freezes and unemployment," PN communications director Frank Psaila said.

"Nobody knows where they stand with Muscat. He changes his stand according to his whims. He was against censorship, now he is in favour; he wanted a living wage, now a freeze on minimum wage; he changed his mind about Europe, now Karmenu Vellu wants to reopen the negotiation package. You can't work with Labour. Labour won't work," Psaila said.

In a reaction, finance minister Tonio Fenech upped the ante on Labour, when he played an audio-clip of Labour MP Owen Bonnici speaking on Super One radio, saying all salaries and the minimum wage could not be increased until favourable economic conditions allow such increases.

"This means Labour is in favour of a wage freeze across the board," Fenech said.

The finance minister told a press conference that there was no committal from the government on raising minimum wage.

"Our target is to reduce the volume of minimum wage-earners by offering more training opportunities to improve their jobs, and attracting investment that provides quality employment," Fenech said.

At the same press conference, Nationalist MP Beppe Fenech Adami hit out at Labour leader Joseph Muscat for filing a libel suit against the prime minister on the wage freeze claims.

When asked how this criticism was reconcilable with the fact that Lawrence Gonzi had filed a defamation case in Brussels against New Europe, Fenech Adami said Muscat was being selective in his libel suits.

"He did not sue MaltaToday for example, which was the first newspaper to report his statement that he would not raise minimum wage. He is filing for libel on something he himself said, unlike Gonzi who is filing a libel case against a false report which attributed something he did not say to him.

Fenech Adami added that the libel proceedings Muscat announced demonstrates another u-turn by the Labour leader who had recently claimed in court that it was not in his style to sue people.

"This libel is trying to gag us - Muscat's future unites us with the past," Fenech Adami said in a quip on Labour's 'a future that unites us' slogan.