Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1231020
10 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 5 APRIL 2020 CORONAVIRUS CRISIS KAMAL (name changed) hails from India. He works in hospital delivering medical equipment to wards. He is more concerned about his family back home than the daily risks he faces, noting that others in hospitals like doctors, nurs- es and cleaners are even more exposed than him. "My first thoughts are about my family in India, it will be a much greater disas- ter if COVID-19 strikes there, especially in the poorer areas… many could die and I am very worried." He is happy that his work here is now appreciated more than ever. "I notice it in the way people look at me, that nod of appreciation when I tell them where I work," and he also found a greater sense of camaraderie at the workplace. "Here we have people from so many different nationalities… Filipinos, Nep- alese, Bangladeshis, Bulgarians, Eri- treans… we are like the tower of Babel… but we still manage to work like clock- work as one team united by one cause." Sadly, he does not expect to see a pay rise from his contractors. "We can be so easily replaced… there is a whole continent from which they can recruit people from… our work is need- ed more than ever and for us it is always better here than back home." But while Kamal's job is safe, others working in other sectors of the econ- omy are feeling the crunch. The most exposed have been those working in the hospitality industry and those working in the black economy. The first to be dumped? Malta's reserve army of labour which contributed to its breathtaking levels of economic growth, particularly in sectors like tourism, has been on the receiving end of layoffs, in the knowledge that when and if the good times come back, new workers can easily be imported to replace the current workforce. "Many third country nationals (TCNs) have been 'let go' just before the actu- al bomb dropped, and of course those people are now not eligible for anything. That is going to be a good problem. If you have a work permit and are no longer working you could be deported," says activist Patricia Graham who leads the 'Up in Arms' lobby group in Malta and is in constant contact with TNCs and their communities. Finding an alternative job is also very unlikely in current circumstances. "If you are here with a work permit and have been laid off you can't just get an- other job without copious red tape and bureaucracy… and right now employers are not interested in doing that. My idea that employers should have kept their workers and then fostered them out just didn't catch on, unfortunately." TCNs who were paid cash in hand will also receive no help, and Graham refers to cases of workers who are only now finding out they were only being de- clared as Part-Time workers as opposed to them working 40-50+ hours a week, which now means that they will now on- ly be entitled to the reduced allowance for part timers. "Then we have the situation with the Migrants in the pandemic: Crucial but disposable? Malta's reserve army of labour which contributed to its breathtaking levels of economic growth, particularly in sectors like tourism, has been on the receiving end of layoffs, in the knowledge that when and if the good times come back, new workers can easily be imported to replace the current workforce Hundreds of migrants are on the frontline: sanitising hospitals, nursing, collecting rubbish, delivering food and driving buses and taxis. Their underpaid work is more indispensable than ever. But others toiling in sectors like tourism were the first to feel the crunch. How are our migrant communities faring in the times of COVID-19? JAMES DEBONO asks "If you are here with a work permit and have been laid off you can't just get another job without copious red tape and bureaucracy… and right now employers are not interested in doing that"