Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/591015
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 25 OCTOBER 2015 15 Contrary to the official version of events, Caritas' calculations suggest that a person on mini- mum wage is clearly not enjoy- ing a decent standard of living. "And that was four years ago. The 'basket' [of prices used to measure cost of living] is now be- ing revised. If the COLA was too low four years ago, what about today?" Here Miceli tires of limiting the discussion only to official govern- ment statistics. "A lot of people switch off when they hear a lot of talk about percentages and fig- ures. What they all understand, though, is that when they go to the supermarket, the number of items they can no longer afford is always rising. They can't af- ford this, they have to cut back on that… And if their washing machine breaks down, they can't afford a new one. There are thou- sands of people who can't afford a washing machine." Against this backdrop, he ar- gues that the question we should be asking is: 'What sort of wage should people be getting to guar- antee at least a decent quality of life?' "Some time ago, we talked about the 'living wage'. It's been forgot- ten now. Is that a coincidence? Or was it deliberate? Is it because the two parties have drifted so close to the centre?" Another sudden chuckle. "Ironically, the only person talking about the liv- ing wage now is David Cameron in the UK. Not even Jeremy Cor- byn…" Another irony he is quick to point out is that while the liv- ing wage promise has been for- gotten, government still spends enormously on social welfare. He rattles of a list of state-financed or subsidised services: health, education (including stipends), public transport… "The irony is that government has to subsidise those services, be- cause otherwise people wouldn't afford them on their current wag- es. Take just health, for example. If someone has to undergo a seri- ous operation, what would it cost without government subsidies to keep the health service free? Let's say €70,000. It could be more, it could be less. What does he do? Sell his house?" The simple fact that govern- ment has to intervene on all these issues, he goes on, is itself confirmation of the maxim – repeated frequently by Charles Miceli throughout this interview – that 'work doesn't pay'. "Bear in mind I'm talking only about people employed in the lower rungs," he quickly adds. "The people on minimum wage or slightly higher… not consult- ants or whatnot, who get paid very well. In a nutshell, I'm talk- ing about the 99%, not the 1%. These people can't afford the ba- sic things that make for a decent standard of living: food, rent, ed- ucation, health… so government has to bail them out. That's what I mean by 'work doesn't pay'…" Still, we are no closer to estab- lishing what sort of intervention Miceli has in mind. A number of questions arise. What meas- ures could have been taken in the budget? How would any ad- ditional intervention – over and above the present expenditure on welfare – be financed? There is also the issue that, Malta be- ing an EU member state, state aid is illegal (some exceptions and within certain parameters not- withstanding)? Starting with the first question, Miceli expresses frustration at generally positive measures that didn't go far enough. He singles out pensions as a prime exam- ple. "To have a minimum guaran- teed pension, we were told we have to wait till 2027. Why? If the economy is going as well as they described in the same budg- et, why do we have to wait? Does this make sense? And what is the 'minimum' that will be guaran- teed? Sixty per cent of the '60% of median pay'… in other words, of another flawed line drawn by government. They're not saying we'll be getting a pension that will be adequate for our needs in 2027. We have to wait 12 years to get a sum based on skewed calcu- lations of those needs." As for the questions of how a government as imagined by Charles Miceli would inter- vene, and the legal hurdles that may arise, he points out with a grin that for a different system to work, we have to start talk- ing about why the current one doesn't. "Unfortunately, the way things work out we'll soon start arguing that it's the Labour or National- ist parties' fault that poverty is on the increase. But that's got noth- ing to do with it. People are fall- ing into poverty because there is neo-liberal system in place. And both parties subscribe to this sys- tem. Unless we break out of this way of looking at things, the gap between rich and poor can only be expected to widen." Interview Did Budget 2016 do enough to reduce poverty levels to within sight of EU targets? Veteran social justice campaigner CHARLES MICELI answers with a resounding 'No' PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAY ATTARD