Half of all the jobs being created in Malta were being taken by foreigners, either due to a lack of specialised workforce or the poor conditions on offer which the Maltese were refusing, the Prime Minister said today.
He raised this point during a Union Haddiema Maqghudin general conference which included a debate between political leaders and union officials.
Dr Muscat said that time was not ripe to increase the minimum wage as this might dent the country's competitiveness and put off investment. On the other hand, measures were being taken to combat precarious employment within private entities subcontracted by the public sector. He noted that since March 2013 some 8,000 workers had their wage adjusted as they were receiving below the minimum wage.
Touching on workers' rights he said that more needed to be done in the tourism industry as very few workers were unionised and so were prone to abuse. On the other hand he said that introducing mandatory union membership like in Australia could be "unconstitutional" and even in breach of EU law.
The Prime Minister reiterated his call for the setting up of a trade council which could help to creat a single front.
On his part, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil warned that wages in the manufacturing sector had gone down by €600, according to the Economic Survey.
While welcoming the low level of unemployment he warned that exports and industrial production were in decline saying that these were alarming signs for this sector.
Dr Busuttil also remarked that in the last year the number of elderly people below the poverty level had increased by 2,000. In this respect he called for measures to introduce second-pillar pensions.
UHM general secretary Josef Vella rejected the Prime Minister's claims that mandatory trade union enrollment could be against the law, saying such a move would be a giant step forward.
He also expressed his disappointment that the government had not taken the UHM's proposal to prepare a study on the effects of the introduction of second-pillar pensions.
Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Arnold Cassola, who was also on the panel, questioned who was running the country. He said recent tragedies like the one at Paqpaqli ghall-Istrina, the Paceville incident which left dozens of young people injured, and the tiger attack at an illegal zoo, had left many questioning if the rule of law was still being observed.