The Federation of Industry (FOI) has called on the Malta Labour Party (MLP) to join the talks for a new social pact in order to give the discussions a national timbre.
Speaking during a consultation meeting at the FOI’s headquarters, Labour leadership contender Joseph Muscat said that if elected Labour leader on June 5, he would discuss the matter with his party colleagues. “Labour would be ready to hold consultations with all spheres of society.”
On his part, FOI vice-president Anton Borg said one of the reasons why the FOI believes that the social pact discussions failed at the last minute in 2005 was because of political considerations.
“Everybody knows that the two main unions are politically aligned on both sides of the political spectrum. Therefore the FOI believes that if the Labour Party had to take part in the discussions on the social pact, this political issue would be overcome,” he said.
FOI President Martin Galea said it was important to build on existing structures, such as MCAST, which although not perfect, was doing a lot of good.
He regretted that not enough progress had been made on the implementation of the Industrial Policy Document. “Although there was a movement towards reducing bureaucracy, not enough has been done,” Galea lamented.
Muscat said fiscal policy had to be used as a tool for growth rather than just for revenue collection. The fiscal burden on investors had to be reduced, particularly in the case of those investing in environmentally-friendly technology.
He also urged industry to champion corporate social responsibility and workers’ rights. “It is simply not on that part-time workers are employed as self-employed to circumvent the law. The FOI should promote good practice among its members,” Muscat insisted.
On his part, Galea said that the concept of flexisecurity (first adopted by Denmark in the 1990s by social-democrat Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen) should be the way forward. The model is a combination of easy hiring and firing (flexibility for employers) and high benefits for the unemployed (security for the employees).
However, Muscat said that the realities of Denmark were completely different from the realities of a small country like Malta.
Muscat also criticized Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi over his insistence on problems such as the international price of cereals, when this was already an “obvious” issue before the general elections.

czahra@mediatoday.com.mt