Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1526409
3 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 8 SEPTEMBER 2024 NEWS KURT SANSONE ksansone@mediatoday.com.mt fear scrutiny' AFTER 10 years of economic growth and a population explosion caused by the importation of foreign workers, gov- ernment is in the process of updating its labour migration policy. Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri, who was handed the labour portfolio last January, has told MaltaToday the policy will have workers' rights at its core. "We are in the process of consulting with all stakeholders after which we will publish our thoughts for further public consultation with the hope of starting to roll out new policies next year," Camill- eri said in an interview. The minister insisted the new policy aims to strengthen workers' rights and foster higher employee retention rates. "We have a lot of good companies that pay well and adhere to workers' rights and this shows in the good employee re- tention rate they have. But we have other companies that have very high turnover rates because they abuse workers and we will stand up to these companies," Camilleri said. Research carried out by the Central Bank of Malta last year showed that for- eign workers from outside the EU are twice as likely as Maltese workers to present a termination notice within a year of being employed. The research revealed that 36% of third country nationals have their job terminated within a year, while 15% have their jobs terminated in just three months. Camilleri said the high turnover among foreign workers was not healthy for them because they would not have had time to integrate and are more at risk of being abused; and it was not healthy for companies who have to retrain new peo- ple, the economy and society. The minister said two key planks of the new policy would be the emphasis on training, upskilling and reskilling of Mal- tese workers and the adoption of a skills based approach when attracting foreign labour. "We have to look at the skills required by the economy and focus on these. We need more nurses and carers but there is no need for more couriers and cab driv- ers," Camilleri said. Over the past few weeks the govern- ment took the decision to stop new work permits for food couriers and cab drivers after JobsPlus found the market was sat- urated. When asked whether it would have been better had this policy been intro- duced before the foreign labour explo- sion happened, Camilleri insisted the country is in a much better position to- day than it was in 2013, which allows it to go down a certain road. "It was harder 10 years ago because the economy was stagnant and there was high unemployment and something had to be done. Today, we do not have those problems but we have new challenges that we want to address," he said. Government to reform labour migration policy […] In a recent editorial you ac- cused me of being too prudent in my approach. I prefer being pru- dent as I have always been than doing something that can disrupt a process. Is it prudence though because it can also be interpreted as someone not willing to investigate, or procrastinating when cases of abuse were flagged months before the scandal became public? What has happened to the Identità officials? Are they still there? It is prudence. If I did not want investigations to take place no re- port would have been forwarded to the police in the first place… the official no longer works at Identità. But the agency has shown willingness to improve its internal processes and to be sub- jected to scrutiny. The agencies on my watch and myself are open to any scrutiny that may happen. Jason Azzopardi, who kick-started all this and has also obtained a magisterial inquiry into the scandal, has alleged that at least 18,000 residency permits were issued fraudulently, which is practically as much as Qormi's population. What do you tell me about this? The information I have been given by Identità is that the num- bers are far less than what is be- ing claimed… How many people are there [who obtained fraudulent residency permits]? Prudence dictates that I should allow ongoing investigations to finish and then everyone's ques- tions will be answered. I am not willing to prejudice any [legal or investigative] process by com- menting publicly. I have never done it and will never fall into that trap. By giving me a number you are not prejudicing a process. Any information about wrong- doing obtained from internal in- vestigations, that are continuing, will be passed on to the police… Do you trust Identità? I am asking this because in the case of an Egyptian man who pleaded not guilty, two Identità officials gave contradictory testimony that led the magistrate to order the police to investigate the officials on the possibility that someone committed perjury. I trust Identità's leadership be- cause when they saw wrongdoing they stood up to it and reported it. This is a good thing and should be appreciated because not everyone is willing to stand up to wrongdoing. On the case you mention, I am informed there was a person in his twenties who testified wrongly and investiga- tions are underway and Identità is cooperating fully. I look for- ward to having a clearer picture of what happened so that people can understand whether it was a genuine mistake or otherwise. If foreigners are fraudulently obtaining residence permits, does government know how many foreigners are in Malta? We know and we have divulged this information in PQs and through the National Statistics Office. Is it correct though? The government does have the data, which is obtained from var- ious entities not just Identità. We also have to keep in mind that we are part of Schengen (which does away with border controls). But we do have the data, contrary to what some are trying to imply. But you have to understand the apprehension. This was a government that presided over an exponential increase in foreign workers over the past 10 years… people are justified to be concerned when the very same agency responsible for residence permits had officials involved in such a racket. They are two different ar- guments. Identità stood up to wrongdoing and worked to strengthen its internal processes. There is also the argument on for- eign workers. The work portfolio was transferred to me in January 2024 and I was tasked to carry out a review of the country's labour migration policies. We are at a stage where consultation will be carried out with stakeholders and afterwards we will publish our ideas and carry out another con- sultation process with the aim of rolling out new policies gradually from next year… We had people reporting that they received hospital appointments by post for ailments they had never received treatment for. One person, who sought medical care at hospital was told that according to medical records he died in March. Here we are talking about Maltese people with Maltese ID cards. The ID card is a unique document. Your ID number is born with you and remains only yours even after death. These cases erode the trust we should have in this document. Doesn't this worry you? It is important that we draw a distinction between the ID card and the residence permit, as you are doing. There have been CONTINUES PAGE 4 >