Benefits of extending retirement age to 70

Today, employees and professionals in government service or agencies are forced to retire at 65. This also applies to professionals such as cardiologists and judges, even though they expressed a willingness to continue their services. 

However, in the latter cases, some ways have been found to engage back such individuals, or those who happen to be close to the party in government, as consultants or specialists while retaining their pensions. No such luck for other lowly workers, who, despite their extensive work experience, are given the boot on reaching 65.

On the other hand, in the UK “the law no longer allows your employer to force you to retire at 65, or any other age, unless there is a contractual retirement age in place where you work, capable of objective justification based on conditions where you work”. 

When considering Malta’s high life expectancy average, low unemployment and the savings in delaying state pension payments, extending the retirement age to 70 would be beneficial for all. Moreover, youngsters are being encouraged to continue their education beyond secondary level and thus this makes the need to extend the retirement age even more justified.

A step in the right direction has been taken by one of the major political parties which proposed that members of the police force should be able to work beyond retirement age while retaining their pension. 

Extending such an opportunity to everyone would not be feasible but what about the rest of senior citizens? Shouldn’t they be allowed to continue working beyond 65 with some increase in their pension if this is deferred for a while?

Raymond Sammut – Mellieħa

Workers are humans

Some months ago, many of us were appalled and enraged about the treatment of Lamin Jaiteh, a migrant worker who was left half dead after falling from a height while working at a construction site. Weeks ago, Ahmed Diriye was less lucky; he lied dead in the hospital’s mortuary, referred to solely as Mr X, while the police searched for him.

Ahmed and Lamin were not the first to suffer such accidents; they’re unlikely to be the last. According to the OHSA, between 2006 and 2020, there were 41 fatal accidents at construction sites. Many of these were due to falls from heights.

The immediate question is why people keep dying this way. How many inspectors are on the OHSA’s books and how many inspections were carried out? Why are these inspections apparently so ineffective? How come 30 healthy construction workers have fallen to their death and no legal and enforcement frameworks have been changed? How many more young workers must die before something changes?

The question as to why workers keep dying on the job is also a social one. To answer it thoroughly, I feel we need to recognise that death of workers is merely the tip of the iceberg. I use the cliché iceberg expression specifically because I wonder whether the modern frenzy of capital and land means the dignity and value of work have been put in deep freeze.

In the 1981 encyclical Laborem exercens, Pope John Paul II wrote “work bears a particular mark of man and of humanity, the mark of a person operating within a community”. Work is an act that gives meaning to our days and ties us to the people around us. Work and jobs aren’t only about earning enough money; primarily they’re about living with dignity and purpose.

That is why, as Żgħażagħ Ħaddiema Nsara Malta (ŻĦN), we must ask the question: what respect for the dignity of workers remains when wages limp well behind the mushrooming cost of living in Malta? Why do half of Maltese workers show signs of depression? Why is it so bureaucratic and burdensome for asylum seekers to work legally in Malta, being forced to renew their work licence every three to six months against a fee? Why is it that the minimum annual wage is thousands short of guaranteeing a decent living?

It is praiseworthy to see cashiers, cleaners, delivery-drivers, nurses and farmers lauded for their work over the COVID pandemic. Hopefully, this respect and gratitude will spread to other sectors too. We must start to restructure a sustainable economy for our country, based not on dirty money allured by passports for sale and teeny-tiny-taxes but built on respect for the capacity of the men, women and youth in our workforce.

To get there, our laws and regulations need to be amended in a way which effectively builds a safeguard against any violations of the dignity of workers; wages must reflect the cost of living and the lower income groups must be able to live decently.

We need to continue to strengthen respect for workers, through legislation and enforcement, which ensures that workplaces are safe and policy-paradigms which put holistic public health first. We must continue to work towards an educational system that empowers and enables all to improve their skills and, consequently, our country.

The restoration of the human, social and economic value of work should be our mission for Malta’s better future.

Xandru Cassar – Member, ŻĦN Malta, Kappara

Central Link

Although recently inaugurated and claimed to be complete, the Attard Central Link fails to work for people using bicycles. The trip is longer, is disconnected, involves multiple stops (13 at the last count) and missing links, whether due to a failure to solve the issue of the railway bridge to nowhere or parking on the ‘two- way cycle’ lane through Triq Tumas Chetcuti and Triq Ferdinandu Inglott, a key component of the scheme’s cycle route. 

In the latter case, it’s not clear who moved the lane on the plan but what is clear is that it is lethal with drivers emerging from side streets unaware that cyclists would be descending down the contraflow cycle lane into their path. It is glaringly obvious; had the lane been on the other side of the road this could have been avoided. 

Added to this is the challenge of prizing away parking from residents, whose parking forces cyclists to now ride in the 40km/h one-way lane.

A simple win-win solution would be to transfer the cycle lane to Triq Mdina and Triq in-Nutar Zarb. This will mean cyclists actually reach Attard, its centre, and at least one link is mended.

Of course, it means giving up one car lane for a bidirectional cycle lane but, ultimately, parking will be saved and that’s what counts. 

Jim Wightman – St Julian’s

Spiritual services to Maltese patients in London

I refer to the article ‘Divide and conquer strategy’ by Kristina Chetcuti (February 27).

The Province of Conventual Franciscans in Malta wishes to set the record straight regarding the allegation that the government issued a direct order to pay the friars for spiritual services offered to Maltese patients requiring medical treatment in London. 

Nothing could be further from the truth. The reality is the Province of Conventual Franciscans had responded to a call from the government for expressions of interest after the congregation, which had provided this service for decades, was no longer able to do so.  

Furthermore, the suggestion that the friars sought to charge for spiritual services is incorrect and deeply offensive. When our offer was taken up, we signed a public contract with the government which compensates the Order for living expenses incurred by the friars in the UK capital and for any arrangements that need to be made for adequate cover to ensure this essential service can continue to be provided to Maltese patients. 

 While we value the fundamental role of journalism in society, we are dismayed that no attempt was made to make contact with us to verify the facts.

Raymond Zammit LL.D., Ray Zammit Legal Offices, Valletta

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