Watch: Joseph Muscat – ‘We Need Foreign Workers For When Our Elderly Soil Themselves’
Joseph Muscat had a Kelly Osbourne moment during his latest interview when he said foreign workers are necessary to take up certain jobs that fewer Maltese feel comfortable working in.
On F Living, the former Prime Minister said that while foreigners used to come to Malta “for the Maltese to serve”, they now come here “to serve us”.
“It is dignified work, but we need these jobs so that our elderly in care homes have people ready to clean them when they soil themselves,” he said.
“It’s not that this work disgusts the Maltese – they used to do it – but it’s difficult nowadays. Just like my parents worked for me to get an education, so too if your children get an education and progress in their studies, you would want them to become teachers, lawyers, and specialists. We will therefore end up with constantly fewer people ready to do tough jobs.”
While Muscat underlined that there should be a level of government control – such as ensuring carers know enough Maltese to communicate with elderly residents – he warned that “kicking them all out” would have serious implications for the Maltese job market.
“It would be easy for me to scare people about foreigners and say we should kick them all out. But let’s say we kick them all out, who will collect our rubbish, who will clean our elderly, who will carry out nursing duties at hospital, who will cook in restaurants and hotels?” he questioned.
And with regards to food delivery drivers, who are often first in the firing line in discussions about how to reduce Malta’s population, Muscat pointed out that they have only thrived because people make use of their services.
“Everyone grumbles about these vehicles, I’m the first to offend them when I see them, but then we also order food from them. We practically even expect our coffee to be delivered to us these days.”
“What do we want? The alternative [to foreign workers] is telling people that they must regress from the quality of the life that they have now grown used to. It’s one or the other though. You cannot say that you want all the benefits these people bring but that you don’t want to pay the price.”
What do you make of Muscat’s argument?
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