Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1527863
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 13 OCTOBER 2024 4 INTERVIEW Josef Vella: 'Politicians need to stop trying to win votes by doing favours' JOSEF Vella is not impressed by Mal- ta's headline economic figures that point towards a relative success story when compared to the rest of the EU. The UĦM CEO says the figures are the result of good accounting but in- sists the country needs a long-term economic plan to address quality of life issues. This is a recurrent theme that Vel- la keeps bringing up when I sit down with him in his spacious office at the union's headquarters in Floriana. He speaks on the need to have a na- tional demographic strategy to en- courage Maltese people to have more babies and ensure young people can find quality jobs in Malta. He also calls for an economic plan that targets quality over quantity. On foreign workers, Vella pours cold water on the political rhetoric that argues for the doors to be shut. "This is not something where you wake up one fine morning and take a decision. These decisions require a plan," he tells me. And one of the cogs of this plan should be fewer unproductive jobs in the public sector to liberate more workers for employment in the pri- vate sector and reduce dependence on government. Creating a new economic model is not something that can be achieved through one budget, Vella notes. Even the promised tax relief should have an aim that ties in with a long-term strat- egy, he says. On government's plan to introduce mandatory union membership, Vella says the UHM had floated the propos- al as far back as 2015. However, the intention, he says, was to make un- ion membership compulsory for low income earners. They are the most vulnerable and the ones needing more protection through collective bargain- ing, he insists. Just before Budget 2025 is announced, Josef Vella, chief executive of UĦM, Voice of the Workers, says Malta needs a long-term economic plan targeting demographic realities, improving the quality of life and ensuring the just distribution of wealth. He speaks to Kurt Sansone about his union's vision. We cannot simply stop bringing over foreign workers or kick them out as some argue. This is not something where you wake up one fine morning and take a decision.