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Julian Manduca
While Maltese may complain that foreigners are taking their jobs, the construction industry finds itself in dire straits when it comes to employing Maltese.
“Last year the Employment Training Commission took the initiative after a request from FOBC to employ more workers,” the President of the Federation of Building and Civil Engineering Contractors, Angelo Xuereb told MaltaToday.
“We had been informed that 300 people were registering for work in construction at the time. ETC sent for all these people in order that the situation may be explained to them but only around 50 turned up.
“We met them and told them that whoever wants to work can start immediately as vacancies were and continue to be available in these specialised trades. We also informed them that if they do not have the necessary skills in the required trades, the ETC & the BICC train people on construction trades. Notwithstanding this, no one applied for employment.”
A earlier attempt by the federation had been made to find Maltese workers in the construction industry: “About two years ago, FOBC had interviewed around 600 people registering with ETC for work in the construction sector. However we regret to say that we did not even manage to employ five people as all declined for one reason or another,”
All the unemployed had been sent for on a one-to-one basis, Xuereb said, and the interviews were held in the presence of ETC representatives.
The Construction Industry has faced the problem of a lack of properly skilled Maltese workforce for some time. Xuereb explained: “This is especially so when it comes to formwork erectors. Formwork is a new system introduced in Malta around 10 years ago. This system was instrumental in increasing the standard of construction work in our country, as it is more efficient and accurate. Malta had no skilled labour for this system and never seemed to make up for this lack in manpower.”
Xuereb told MaltaToday that any formwork erectors can find employment immediately. “But no one turns up whenever we call for workers in this trade, which proves outright that there is no supply of labour in this and other specialised construction trades.”
The ETC had once given permission for all the construction companies to employ 90 foreigners between them, but this was only for six months, and the practice has been discontinued.
Xuereb pointed to the reasons why people are not eager to work in the construction industry: “We are also well aware that Maltese governments are always work towards increasing our standard of living.
“This means that people avoid lower grade employment. The construction sector is unfortunately being looked at as one of hardship. The situation is the same for chambermaids in the tourism sector. This should not be an excuse because the wages are good and the working conditions have improved greatly in recent years.”
MaltaToday is informed that building and civil engineering contractors have no other option but to employ foreigners, as is happening in other European countries. And Xuereb explained that there should be no discrimination related to race: “The FOBC is against any form of discrimination relating to colour of skin or other attributes when employment of foreigners is sought. The labour shortage problem is a reality in Malta too. It is useless pretending that this is not so and in fact, the problem is expected to become more acute with time.
“FOBC is currently doing its best in conjunction with ETC, BICC and MCAST to train and produce the workers which the industry needs.”
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