The Malta Independent
In my last contribution for the year 2003 I had given 10 bullet points deliverables which we should as a country aim for through a joint co-ordinated effort, which many may wish to refer to as `social pact`, to redeem the country from the economic stress which it is getting deeper into.
We have made progress in getting consensus on the existence of the problems and on the awareness of the consequences that await us if we continue with our policy of economic neglect, but unfortunately we have made very little progress, if any, in actually devising an action programme with clear deliverables. We seem all waiting for the others to carry the burden of economic redemption or expecting magic solutions which would befall us on 1st May 2004 as we spend the money saved from Xmas parties to mark our accession to EU membership with all the discipline this should theoretically involve.
In suggesting 10 point solutions I risk being branded as armchair critic. Well, there is a role for armchair critics in trying to throw some light in areas of economic darkness and I feel it is the duty or arm-chair critics not only to criticise, which is always easy, but also to point the direction for possible solutions. With this in mind I mean to elaborate on each and every deliverable I identified in a series which starts today with the first bullet point:
This is my no.1 deliverable with a reason. It is the major source of the economic malaise which has constrained us to content ourselves with anaemic growth based on unsustainable consumption when we should be enjoying galloping growth based on production and investment.
If we continue to avoid addressing this main problem source we can never find a true solution. We should not continue to emulate the fool who lost money in Zachary Street and went to look for it in Republic Street simply because it is lit better. If the problem is excessive unproductive expenditure caused by surplus labour resources within the public sector it is useless seeking solutions based on increased tax impact which suffocates the economy and draws out the blood which is needed to energise it.
For as long as we tolerate an atrocious social injustice, where public sector employees enjoy maximum protection for giving a so and so service free from commercial competitive pressures and enjoying conditions of employment superior to private sector employees who have to earn their living and secure their job day in day out through producing in multiples of what they are paid, then we continue to feed the system to the point of self-destruction. People will continue to abuse the weakness of their vote-sensitive politicians to join the public sector gravy train which is funded by over-taxing the real wealth creators in the private sector, and by amassing more and more public debt.
For as long as we continue to pay bundles of cash for voluntary early retirement schemes in the public sector, whilst allowing practically no protection against redundancy to brethren dependants in the private sector, we continue not only to tolerate a gross social injustice but actually feed it to grow on itself until it finally explodes us into self-destruction.
So deliverable no. 1 of any social pact has to be an agreement to re-balance the rights of workers across the whole employment sector by increasing the security against redundancy of private sector employees and subjecting public sector employees to similar or comparable discipline and conditions of employment.
Unions whose membership base is only in the public sector would obviously object to this, seeking to preserve their jewels and shift onto others the burden of re-structuring. Thankfully however our two major Union groupings represent workers across a wide employment spectrum, in the private sector as much as in the public sector.` They should understand the fairness of such a deal if they really mean to give substance and not just lip service, to the concept of `social pact`.
This re-balancing of workers rights is the best conduit for drawing idle labour resources out of the public sector, where they cost excessive millions in operating expenditure, and channel them to productive jobs where they can probably earn more for producing much much more.` In the process we would solve the public sector deficit without suffocating taxation measures and make the economy grow at sustainable high rates through better utilisation of resources.
Next week I will deal with deliverable No.2 regarding the need to re-train the labour resources which would be released by deliverable No 1. Meanwhile I wish you all Happy New Year.
In my last contribution for the year 2003 I had given 10 bullet points deliverables which we should as a country aim for through a joint co-ordinated effort, which many may wish to refer to as `social pact`, to redeem the country from the economic stress which it is getting deeper into.
We have made progress in getting consensus on the existence of the problems and on the awareness of the consequences that await us if we continue with our policy of economic neglect, but unfortunately we have made very little progress, if any, in actually devising an action programme with clear deliverables. We seem all waiting for the others to carry the burden of economic redemption or expecting magic solutions which would befall us on 1st May 2004 as we spend the money saved from Xmas parties to mark our accession to EU membership with all the discipline this should theoretically involve.
In suggesting 10 point solutions I risk being branded as armchair critic. Well, there is a role for armchair critics in trying to throw some light in areas of economic darkness and I feel it is the duty or arm-chair critics not only to criticise, which is always easy, but also to point the direction for possible solutions. With this in mind I mean to elaborate on each and every deliverable I identified in a series which starts today with the first bullet point:
`Rebalancing the rights and obligations of workers across the whole economic spectrum facilitating the mobility from public to private sector employment.`
This is my no.1 deliverable with a reason. It is the major source of the economic malaise which has constrained us to content ourselves with anaemic growth based on unsustainable consumption when we should be enjoying galloping growth based on production and investment.
If we continue to avoid addressing this main problem source we can never find a true solution. We should not continue to emulate the fool who lost money in Zachary Street and went to look for it in Republic Street simply because it is lit better. If the problem is excessive unproductive expenditure caused by surplus labour resources within the public sector it is useless seeking solutions based on increased tax impact which suffocates the economy and draws out the blood which is needed to energise it.
For as long as we tolerate an atrocious social injustice, where public sector employees enjoy maximum protection for giving a so and so service free from commercial competitive pressures and enjoying conditions of employment superior to private sector employees who have to earn their living and secure their job day in day out through producing in multiples of what they are paid, then we continue to feed the system to the point of self-destruction. People will continue to abuse the weakness of their vote-sensitive politicians to join the public sector gravy train which is funded by over-taxing the real wealth creators in the private sector, and by amassing more and more public debt.
For as long as we continue to pay bundles of cash for voluntary early retirement schemes in the public sector, whilst allowing practically no protection against redundancy to brethren dependants in the private sector, we continue not only to tolerate a gross social injustice but actually feed it to grow on itself until it finally explodes us into self-destruction.
So deliverable no. 1 of any social pact has to be an agreement to re-balance the rights of workers across the whole employment sector by increasing the security against redundancy of private sector employees and subjecting public sector employees to similar or comparable discipline and conditions of employment.
Unions whose membership base is only in the public sector would obviously object to this, seeking to preserve their jewels and shift onto others the burden of re-structuring. Thankfully however our two major Union groupings represent workers across a wide employment spectrum, in the private sector as much as in the public sector.` They should understand the fairness of such a deal if they really mean to give substance and not just lip service, to the concept of `social pact`.
This re-balancing of workers rights is the best conduit for drawing idle labour resources out of the public sector, where they cost excessive millions in operating expenditure, and channel them to productive jobs where they can probably earn more for producing much much more.` In the process we would solve the public sector deficit without suffocating taxation measures and make the economy grow at sustainable high rates through better utilisation of resources.
Next week I will deal with deliverable No.2 regarding the need to re-train the labour resources which would be released by deliverable No 1. Meanwhile I wish you all Happy New Year.
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