The Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry held a webinar on the subject of employment conditions vis-à-vis the current COVID-19 situation.
‘Question Time by The Malta Chamber’ offered more than 200 members the exclusive opportunity to ask the pertinent questions to the Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister the Hon Carmelo Abela as well as to the Director General of the DIER Ms Diane Vella Muscat. Dr Matthew Brincat participated in his capacity as The Chamber’s representative on the Employment Relations Board, while Mr Andre Fenech, Head of Policy moderated the webinar.
In his opening remarks, Perit David Xuereb underlined the importance of the relationship that exists between employers and their employees. He said that a companies’ human resource, in an increasingly value-added economy are possibly the greatest resource on the books.
‘That is why The Malta Chamber has worked hard to propose workable solutions to Government to save jobs at this time of economic crisis’ David Xuereb said. ‘The success of our businesses at this time of extraordinary challenge will all boil down to our resilience, our ability to adapt and ability to innovate. We must ensure that our businesses are aware of the opportunities that are arising in this new normal, and use them to adapt and innovate. We cannot wait for the storm to be over – we must learn to grow today’ Mr Xuereb said.
The Chamber’s President also referred to the historic agreement which was reached at the MCESD between all the social partners which provided for the assistance to businesses.
During the session, Minister Abela took note of the employer’s concerns and assured them that the Government is monitoring the situation to assess the economic and employment impacts of the COVID-19 situation. He said that he is cognisant of the sacrifices being made by employers of good faith to safeguard employment and employment conditions of their employees. He reassured that the Government is doing its utmost by dedicating millions of Euros from its war-chest to be in a position to ascertain the wage supplement. “We are one of the first EU member states not just to announce but to fork out the actual money. We are talking about people. Let’s be encouraged by what we are doing. I am grateful for this effort and in keeping to the social pact within the MCESD, with most of the top-up. We know that you need to fork out money in this difficult time with less income from your own resources, we appreciate and it is our duty to remind you to do that”, said Abela.
‘Question Time by The Malta Chamber’ is a series of webinars organised by The Malta Chamber which gives members the exclusive opportunity to ask the pertinent questions to the right people. In the coming weeks, the Malta Chamber shall be organising a second webinar that will deal with the assistance to businesses which is being managed by Malta Enterprise.