Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1122280
14 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 26 MAY 2019 WORKERS, local and foreign, tend to be at the fore of heated public debates yet the media seldom publicises their first-hand experiences, remaining in- visible and unrepresented while being broadly discussed by others. Foreign workers, we are repeatedly told, are "the true cause of Malta's hu- miliatingly low wages". This narrative is then pitted against the other that speculates that Maltese working-class people are particularly susceptible to racism; and such 'despicable' beings, by definition, do not deserve better liv- ing and working conditions. The asso- ciations between a working-class back- ground and xenophobia have become almost proverbial. On one hand, those who blame low wages on foreigner workers are labelled racists, while those who hold racism as an innate characteristic of the work- ing class are classist or hypocrites... but does moral posturing truly challenge perceptions? OzoGroup is Malta's number one private sector employer. Originally es- tablished in 1996 as a small cleaning company, the group is today chaired by Mario Muscat and over the past decade grew to comprise 12 companies, each specialising in different sectors of hos- pitality and service industry. In 2017, it received a European Business Award in the categories 'National Champions' and 'Best Company in Europe'. The group outsources service person- nel to hotels, restaurants and the man- ufacturing industry. The business is a lucrative one: its corporate headquar- ters recently moved to Qormi, where the building is partly under construc- tion. Fabio, one of the managers, is show- ing me around: "Here, at Ozo, we have workers of many nationalities. These are from Kenya and Italy," he says as we walk past two male labourers fixing the building's interior. We pass by the glass doors of the office floors on the spacious administration floor, and Fa- bio mentions the nationalities of their occupants: Serbian, Maltese, Macedo- nian, Nigerian... they are the managers' offices. I point out that my plan was to meet workers and not managers, but Fabio suggests having a word with the managers first. He introduces me to Tatjana Kavaji, a Serbian woman who heads Ozo's hospitality department, who has been living in Malta for 22 years, seven of which spent working in the company. Her own work experience at OzoGroup is a positive one: "We have no such def- initions like 'foreigners' and 'Maltese' here. I never felt as a foreigner, but as part of a team and part of a family, from day one", she says with a smile. I ask her in which language the com- pany's staff usually communicate with at work. Although most of the time Tatjana communicates in English with her director and colleagues, she never- theless can hold a conversation in Mal- tese when necessary. Kavaji proudly tells me that in 2012, the year she joined the group, its ser- vice personnel for the hotel industry consisted of 168 women, which seemed like a "huge number" back then. To- day, the group employs over 2,000, and Tatjana has over 1,000 people under her supervision, all working in private households or the food and beverage sector. OzoGroup actively looks for more la- bourers abroad, where it reaches out to all those seeking employment via re- cruitment agencies, and obtains work permits for all foreign employees to whom it offers contracts of a minimum duration of one year. For the past four years, Kavaji went on at least two recruitment trips per year. In January 2019 alone, she enrolled over 100 persons from Serbia, Bosnia and Macedonia. In total, OzoGroup employs workers of 37 different na- tionalities: British, Nepalese, Filipino, Bulgarian, Serbian, Bosnian, Turk, Ital- ian, Romanian, Indian and, of course, Maltese employees, who are but a frac- tion of the diverse workforce from whose labour the corporation profits. The team of managers is equally mul- ti-ethnic and includes Maltese, Ser- bian, Bosnian, Nigerian and Turkish members, just to mention a few. Brian, a manager from Nigeria, tells me his colleagues all work well with each other. He, personally, has never experienced any ethnically-induced conflicts on the workplace. Brian came to Malta in 2010 to study at the univer- sity and was engaged with OzoGroup after graduating in 2015. He strongly believes that the main- stream media is culpable of portraying migrant workers in a bad light, which consequently leads to a negative per- ception of them by the general public. "I am a member of a Nigerian commu- nity here, in Malta. We often meet the Prime Minister and the President. We don't have problems," Brian asserts, adding that many Nigerians are mar- ried to Maltese, have children and get on well together. A manager of Serbian origin, George, started off in 2013 as a cleaner. Soon enough he moved up the career lad- der and was promoted to supervisor. George is now a coordinator of the housekeeping unit overseeing work of around 500 people. A friendly relationship between the managers transcends the workplace. Despite having little time for social- ising outside working hours, coordi- nators still meet from time to time, Isabelle Farrugia, a general man- ager who supervises over 400 factory workers, says. On occasions they cel- ebrate birthdays and the winter festive season together. Wages and working conditions OzoGroup's regular employees re- ceive their wage on the 15th of every month. Tatjana Kavaji beams with pride: "At the moment, it is €5.08 – higher than the minimum wage of €4.50!" I struggle to share Kavaji's enthusi- asm. Indeed, anyone earning as little as €5.08 per hour (or €812.8 a month) – and who doesn't own property – faces a great challenge when it comes to find- ing a roof over their head. "I often hear and read comments stat- ing that Maltese tenants are losing a rental market bidding war to foreign workers" – I ask her – "who are sup- posedly at an advantage since they can share an apartment with a few others, earn some money and then leave..." I curiously anticipate her reply. Kavaji boldly shakes her head: "Workers have to find a solution since the prices are too high," she points out reasonably, though ignoring the critical detail that workers' low pay is another prime cause of their struggle. She insists that strict regulations are now in place to estab- lish and enforce the maximum number of tenants allowed. Sky-high rents, in her opinion, are a consequence of the gaming companies' influx as well as the influence of high net worth individu- als who keep pouring into Malta from abroad. Overall, Kavaji sounds like a text- book case of free market advocacy. Had she been a landlord herself, she admits, renting out property for a higher amount would be a natu- ral choice to make. NEWS The true cause of low wages? Hint: it's not foreign workers To find out more about the state of solidarity between workers of different ethnicity and their working conditions, RAISA GALEA paid a visit to a private company which employs a large number of individuals from all over the world, deployed in many Maltese workplaces wages? Hint: it's not "They never wanted to strike! Why would they do that? They earn more than a minimum wage!"