Maltese People Don’t Want To Work In Catering Despite High Wages, Chef And Restaurant Owner Warns
One of Malta’s most renowned chefs and restaurant owners has warned that barely any Maltese people want to work in the catering industry and that this stems from the industry’s working hours, not salaries.
“It’s great that business in Malta is booming once again, we got that right. Excellent. But the manpower around isn’t making sense, somewhere along the line something is wrong big time,” Sean Gravina said yesterday.
“We need to think bigger and think ahead to resolve this issue at the earliest. We need to make the process faster to bring in third [country] nationals keeping safety [in mind]. We need to add manpower to the respective offices fast.”
Gravina dismissed popular theories that many Maltese people are disincentivised from working in catering due to the level of the salaries on offer.
“Maltese don’t want to work in the catering industry for one reason and one reason only, because of the work-life balance – hours,” he said.
“Not the wages, don’t let any union feed you this story. Wages are good, very good. Unless we sort out the manpower, more Maltese will leave this industry to achieve a better balance. At this rate, in 10 years’ time the only Maltese left in catering will be the owners. We need action.”
“If we want to keep the general quality we have we need to address this urgently.”
Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo
Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo recently acknowledged this predicament, admitting that not many Maltese youths view the hospitality industry as a career these days.
“They tell you they must work at nights, weekends and on public holidays,” he said on ONE TV’s Paperscan last weekend.
Bartolo tried to incentivise more youths to enter the industry by arguing that salaries are on the rise, that it is one of the world’s most in-demand jobs and that workers can branch into several fields, such as management, diving and other niches.
Meanwhile, the Chamber of SMEs has pressured the government to facilitate the processing of visas from prospective workers in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Maldives.
The government has pledged to hire more staff at the India High Commission, which deals with visas from these countries, but Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri yesterday warned that some people are misusing the system by applying for more workers than they actually need.
Cover photo: Sean Gravina (Photo: Facebook)
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