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02.05.19 5 NEWS MALTA'S job market is being subjected to a classic social dumping scenario, with work supply flooding the market and putting pressure of Maltese workers' salaries and condi- tions, PN MEP hopeful Peter Agius Said. e former head of the Eu- ropean Parliament's office in Malta, who was addressing a Union Haddiema Maghqudin conference marking Workers' Day, said this situation could be faced either by limiting the in- flux of third country workers or upping the ante when it comes to attracting quality workers. "ere are two ways forward in this scenario: either we lim- it the influx of third country workers in the areas where this is impacting the salary and the conditions of the Maltese workers; or we learn to com- pete better on quality," Agius said. "So far we are not competing well enough on quality. Our second highest early school leaving rate in the European Union is an indicator to that effect. e European Commis- sion country report on Malta point to a serious skills gap in our job market," he empha- sised. is problem could also be addressed through Malta's EU membership, including by us- ing the €700 million digital transition fund coming up after 2020, by integrating better the island's industry into its edu- cational colleges, following the German Mittlestand Model, Agius highlighted. "e government cannot sit on its laurels while our workers feel the squeeze of the influx of foreign work supply. It should undertake a detailed and clini- cal study to identify the sectors at risk of social dumping." "is would allow a differen- tiated approach in the exercise of the government's decision to assign work permits to third country nationals, as opposed to EU nationals who enjoy free movement, which represent the lion's share of the foreign workers coming to Malta." He said that it was evident from his visits to factory floors and employers around Mal- ta and Gozo that employers themselves recognise that so- cial dumping should not be al- lowed to happen, and that the unregulated and unmonitored influx of foreign workers is having an impact also on their own competitiveness. is is true in certain situa- tions where such employers are constrained to cut costs on la- bour to compete with rival bids in tendering both for private and public sector offers, Agius said. e MEP went on to candi- date underline that European safeguards like the Posting of Workers Directive were inef- fective in the current scenarios given that the said laws do not cover third-country nationals working in Malta. Workers facing social dumping risks and skills gap challenges, PN MEP candidate says Prospective Nationalist Party MEP Peter Agius told delegates at a UHM Workers' Day conference that work supply flooding is puing pressure of the salary and conditions of Maltese workers Peter Agius NESTLÉ, the well-known glob- al food company who owns iconic brands such as Nescafé and Kit Kat, recently announced a leadership change in Malta, and appointed Gi- uliana Isolani as new country man- ager, after nine years of manage- ment by Naum Janakiev. Honed through her near-25 years of working internationally as part of the Nestlé Group, Isolani brings to her new role considerable finance and sales experience in several countries. With a succession of high-re- sponsibility positions including in mergers and acquisitions, and in- ternational sales and business de- velopment, Isolani has proven to be instrumental in the growth, profit- ability and on-going success of the Group. In this assignment, her role will be to lead the organisation to fully deploy the Nestlé model, aiming to create value for local partners and stakeholders, and, primarily, for all its consumers and customers. Beyond her extensive experience, Isolani's new appointment also sup- ports Nestlé's commitment to gen- der balance, which has led to the company's inclusion in the 2019 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index (GEI). Recognising gender balance as an integral part of the company's cul- ture and, as a booster of its strategy for sustainable growth, Nestlé re- cently launched its Gender Balance Acceleration Plan, which aims to increase the percentage of women employed in the group's top 200 senior executive positions to 30 percent by 2022. "I am really glad to join a reality such as Nestlé Malta," Isolani said. "Beside the successful brands that everybody knows, I found a team of very passionate people, whose dif- ferent skills, experiences and per- sonalities bring enormous value in the quality of our job. "Gender Balance plays a role, too. Here at Nestlé Malta 40 percent of line managers and 33 percent of Executive Committee positions are covered by women. I strongly be- lieve that diversity and an inclusive culture are key success factors for any organisation in current times," she said. Giuliana Isolani appointed country manager for Nestlé in Malta For its first female leader in the country, Nestle has chosen an executive manager with a diverse and international background Giuliana Isolani

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