Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1258061
11.06.2020 3 NEWS FROM PAGE 1 Carmelo Abela, whose ministerial portfolio within the Office of the Prime Minister includes industrial and em- ployment relations, said on Monday that shops that have reopened after COVID-19 restrictions were lifted must start giving employees their full pay. His words may not go down too well with retail operators whose return to 'normality' is still conditioned by safe- ty measures that limit customers and incomes that are nowhere near what they were before the pandemic hit in March. Claudio Grech, the Nationalist Par- ty's spokesman for the economy, told BusinessToday that Abela's words were merely a curtain-raiser for the govern- ment's withdrawal of the wage supple- ment. "Unfortunately this reflects a stark disconnect from the reality which businesses and their employees are liv- ing in today," he said. "Now one needs to also understand that the existing wage supplement and main benefits - including rent support and utility support - are only availa- ble for a select number of sectors with thousands of businesses and their workforce left to face the critical eco- nomic conditions on their own steam." He said that rather than having Abe- la trying to pass the buck to the busi- nesses, the government should be pro- viding targeted, temporary and timely relief to all those enterprises that have been materially impacted, with relief intensity linked to the extent of impact on revenues and liquidity. Moreover, he added, relief packag- es should be reviewed to support the specific requirements of the targeted industries, ensuring that businesses are provided with adequate levels of investment aid - in grants and tax cred- its - to enable them to rapidly make the necessary restructuring, realignment and transformational efforts to achieve sustainability and safeguard jobs. Standing firm But Abela told BusinessToday that his appeal to employers was in line with the phase of the new normality, now in an economic recovery mode following the pandemic. "With shops and other places al- lowed to re-open and revert back to pre COVID, it goes without saying that even the workers' conditions should go to pre -COVID levels," he said. He said that this was also part of an agreement reached by the Malta Council for Economic and Social De- velopment (MCESD). As part of the same agreement, em- ployers had agreed to top up wages by €400 once government committed it- self to paying €800 of the employees' wages. "is ministry expects all employers to abide by that same agreement, even at this stage," Abela said. He said the government had adopted an active approach that transitioned from one phase of the pandemic to the next. is is now the phase for a new nor- mality, were shops are assisted to reo- pen while alleviating the shock burdens they experienced because of COVID. "ose establishments that reopen their operations and return to full hours shall give their employees a full pay. e new normality should not, and will not be allowed to ostracise employees," Abela insisted. "We will push strongly for full pay and full conditions to return as soon as possible". Retailers' reaction e owner of a clothes outlet in Vallet- ta told BusinessToday that he was not in a position yet to start paying his five employees the full wages they enjoyed before the coronavirus pandemic hit. "e minister seems to have forgot- ten the losses that we have incurred over the past few months and the fact that we will be operating nowehere close to optimum profitability for the foreseeable future," he said. Another businessman, owner of a household goods shop, agreed. He said it will still be some time - many months - before he will be fi- nancially stable enough to start paying pre-COVID wages again. "My three employees understand this and, though struggling, they are mak- ing ends meet with the reduced salary I can afford to give them, supplement- ed by the government subsidy," he said. "is is not ideal and I would like to be able to pay them the full wages, but we are already struggling as it is, with reduced clientele and business, and our focus has been on not having to fire any of the staff." Employers' concerns Joseph Farrugia, Director General of the Malta Employers' Association, said that companies that returned to nor- mal operations were expected to pay full wages. Assistance schemes were still in place for companies that were still facing fi- nancial difficulties. Farrugia did agree that it might in- deed be too early for many retailers to start paying full wages once again. "While one cannot expect wage sub- sidies to continue indefinitely, the coming three to four months are criti- cal for many businesses who have been adversely affected by the COVID cri- sis," he said. "Reducing the wage supplement at this stage might be immature and we believe it would have been better to leave the age supplement as per An- nex A entitlement but restricting it to fewer companies as the economic situ- ation improves." Relief vs bail-out Abela's comments come after warn- ing last month that employees were not at liberty to decide for themselves if they should or should not report to work if their employer opened shop. "I made it clear that all employees had to report to work but now we are at the next juncture of our economic response and I will now see that the improved reality also reflects itself in what is experienced by our employees. Now is the time for all those shops that have re-opened to give employees their full pay," Abela said. He insisted that government is still supporting these companies with the same level of wage supplement as it did in March and April. But Grech insists that relief should also take into account the investments and re-engineering of operations that certain sectors would need to un- dertake to align their practices to the evolving health protocols and oper- ational revisions imposed by the au- thorities. "e rigorous adherence to these protocols is fundamental to ensure the larger objective of protecting lives, containing viral infection rates and promoting a healthy nation are duly secured and sustained throughout this challenging period," he said. "It goes without saying that relief should not be construed as bail-out of failed or irresponsible enterprises but as an economic stimulus to support healthy businesses nurse the damage inflicted by the economic storm and helping them emerge stronger out of it." Retailers still a long way from affording to pay full wages Claudio Grech Joseph Farrugia