A Chinese-owned, Malta-based clothing company has for two decades used the jobs of a few Maltese employees as leverage to secure the employment of many more Chinese workers, MaltaToday can reveal. Set up in August 1986 as a joint venture between Malta Government Investment Limited and the Chongqing regional authorities, Leisure Clothing Ltd was originally obliged to employ 96 Maltese workers and 21 Chinese workers. The company has since seen the Chinese component of its workforce rise from the original 21 in 1986, to 73 today. On the other hand, the number of Maltese workers employed by this manufacturing company has decreased from 96 to just 25. In August, MaltaToday revealed that Leisure Clothing Ltd intends to move its operations from its Corradino facility to a plant which will be vacated by textile company Bortex, after the latter laid off 113 Maltese workers due to foreign competitiveness pressure. Bortex, which also subcontracts Leisure Clothing Ltd, has retained 129 jobs in other departments. Originally, the Maltese government had 45,000 shares in Leisure Clothing Ltd, while the Chinese had 105,000 shares in the same company. But when in 1992 the Maltese government divested itself of its shares in the textile company it also acceded to a request to increase the number of Chinese workers to 40. In 1998 the number was increased to 46, and in 2004 the Ministry for Economic Services acceded to the company’s request to increase the Chinese workforce to 70. This appears to contradict normal procedures, whereby work permits to foreigners are granted by ETC in those sectors experiencing a shortage of Maltese workers. In this case, however, the ETC has justified the employment of Chinese workers in a manufacturing firm on the basis of “pre-existing agreements.” MaltaToday is informed that the government has been acceding to the company’s continued requests for increases in the Chinese component of its workforce, for the sake of the 25 remaining Maltese workers who would lose their jobs if the company decides to leave Malta. But with more Maltese workers losing their jobs in the manufacturing sector after the closure of companies like Denim and VF, as well as the laying off of 113 workers from Bortex due to loss of competitiveness, the expansion of the Chinese company is seen as increasingly awkward. MaltaToday is informed that Chinese workers benefit from minimum conditions set by Maltese law, but their lodging and food expenses are deducted from their wages, thus making them cheaper to employ than Maltese workers. But the Chinese company’s move to the same plant in which they used to work has caused consternation among Bortex former employees. Leisure Clothing Ltd offers a telltale story of the dilemmas facing the island in a globalised world, where competitiveness in manufacturing is accompanied by a race for the bottom-line. Ultimately, the future of the 25 Maltese employed by the Chinese company and the revenue generated from its exports could also depend on employing more Chinese workers within Malta’s borders. Still, the arrival of new boatful of migrants from Africa – some of whom, after spending 18 months in detention, might take on jobs that no Maltese want to do – continues to make headlines. jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt