Government pledges to tighten enforcement of employment laws

The government is taking racial discrimination at workplaces seriously and the enforcement of legal notices protecting workers rights is a top priority, education minister Evarist Bartolo and equality minister Helena Dalli said.

Addressing a joint press conference the two ministers highlighted the governments resolve to address the abuses exposed by a Council of Europe report published last week.

Informing employers of their obligations and migrants of their rights are among the governments drive to eradicate abuse, the ministers added.

Last week a lengthy behind closed doors meeting was held at the Marsa Open centre where Bartolo and Dalli met migrants and their representatives.

The education minister said the government has plans to create a structure within the open centre through which employers can engage migrant workers in a legal and formal way, safeguarding the migrants' rights.

Bartolo said that migrants are Vulnerable who do not feel comfortable airing their concerns because they fear repercussions, therefore the government approached them and is looking at further cooperation with ngos.

Asked to mention the main concerns voiced by the migrants, Bartolo said that these included "employment, housing, education and equal treatment."

Moreover, minister Dalli said that the majority of migrants made it clear that they had no desire to stay in Malta and were only here in passing.

Yet, Bartolo said that he was Impressed by the migrants 'acknowledgement of Malta's limitations.

The meeting, Bartolo added, highlighted the need for an integration policy and cited the increase of school children who do not speak neither maltese nor English.

He added that his ministry was in talks with schools and other stakeholders to introduce programmes intended to address situation.

In the St Paul's Bay primary school around 70 students have no language skills in the country's two official languages and the same situation exists in other schools.

Bartolo said the Council of Europe report on migration showed encouraging signs, such as the introduction of labour laws and the processing of asylum and humanitarian statuses. "However it also exposed worrying signs about the conditions of migrant workers in illegal and precarious jobs" he said.

Although stakeholders insisted that this was the exception, Bartolo said that this could not be confirmed as migrants might be scared of speaking up about abusive practices.

"Although the government has introduced legislation and stringent conditions in tendering processes to eliminate precarious jobs, some employers still find innovative ways to get around them. However, we will remain vigilant and do our utmost to stop abusive practices," Dalli said.