Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1337056
11 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 7 FEBRUARY 2021 NEWS army's top brass, which only solidified Ab- ela's hold on his supporters, despite the reservations of a segment of progressive Labour voters who shun xenophobia. Are foreign workers part of the team? To remain in sync with pop- ular concerns on immigration, on Sunday PN leader Bernard Grech latched on to comments by finance minister Clyde Caruana that the country needs to start addressing the downward pressure on wages by foreign workers, insisting this was a vindication of the Opposition's stance. Interestingly, both Carua- na and Grech link the down- ward pressure on local wages to "foreign workers" and not to the exploitation of these workers. In this case Caruana has pre-empted the Opposi- tion coming up with concrete ideas and measures – like in- troducing quotas for particular sectors where foreign workers are needed and obliging em- ployers benefiting from the im- portation of labour to employ a minimum number of Maltese workers. In so doing Caruana has exposed the failure of the Opposition to come up with realistic and concrete propos- als. Minimum wage: on whose side is Team Malta? Still, by sticking to the 'De- lia script' on the risks posed by foreign workers, Bernard Grech's party not only ignores the utilitarianism of Maltese nationalism – which sees for- eigners as just a cash injec- tion – but it is distracted from coming up with proposals on boosting wages, something which benefits both Maltese and foreign workers. Grech has yet to beef up his earlier declaration about sup- porting a living wage, which was mentioned in a pre-Budget document presented by the party. Moreover the Opposi- tion has been silent on a pro- posed EU directive which de- fines an adequate minimum wage as being at least 50% of the country's average wage and 60% of the country's median wage. While the government wants this directive to become only a recommendation, the parlia- mentary opposition has not ob- jected to this approach. In this case the role of opposition was taken up by Moviment Graffit- ti, which is increasingly filling the wide gap on the left in the spectrum. Understandably both parties are keen not to alienate small and medium-sized businesses, which are passing through testing times because of COVID. But they tend to overlook the fact that wage stagnation has coin- cided with a period of eco- nomic growth which generat- ed massive profits in a number of sectors. Finding ways of helping small businesses pay a living wage by taxing the wind- fall profits of other sectors could well be part of the solu- tion. Moreover this also raises the question on which side Team Malta is playing in this game: is it on the side of the bosses or on the side of the workers? In this case, the government's de- fence of the national turf puts Team Malta on the side of con- servative politics, undermining the interests of both Maltese and foreign workers. Soft power for good causes? One thing remains lacking from the 'Team Malta' theme: a positive use of Malta's interna- tional soft power for progres- sive and humanitarian global causes. With the country's reputation in the pits following the assas- sination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, an investment in pos- itive soft power may go a long way in making amends. Mal- ta just risks being perceived as a small rich country which is open to the global rich but closed to the wretched of the earth, apart from its constant defence against demands for tax justice. Under Abela, Malta's most significant contribution so far have been been towards the peace process in Libya, some- thing the government could flaunt more. Rather than fo- cusing on just defending its turf from pesky foreigners, Malta may well invest more in its international image, by re- claiming its role in the 1970s as a voice for social justice and peace in the Middle East and the Mediterranean region. jdebono@mediatoday,com.mt By pushing the opposition to support him on an issue Abela proposes as popular 'common sense', the Prime Minister emboldens bigots who simply want our ports to remain closed in the face of human tragedy