The Big Living Wage Question: how much does Joseph Muscat pay the political skivvies at Super One and Maltastar?

Published: September 26, 2010 at 8:47pm
God, Michelle, it must be terrible to have to get by on a living wage. Thank heavens this has been a bumper year for fireworks.

God, Michelle, it must be terrible to have to get by on a living wage. Thank heavens this has been a bumper year for fireworks.

I ask because for years they were paid nothing or next to nothing, expected to work for free or for peanuts in return for the glorious reward of serving Labour.

I believe that politicians should practise what they preach. So come on now, Mister Living Wage: how much do you pay your own people?

And we don’t mean Marisa Micallef, of course, because that wasn’t a salary but payment for a scalp. You’ve probably found out by now that she’s not even worth the minimum wage in terms of what she can contribute to a political party.




11 Comments Comment

  1. anthony says:

    How many cruises per year on MSC Splendida will I be entitled to under Muscat’s living pension?

    Concrete facts, please. No more drivel.

  2. Claude Sciberras says:

    Another Living Wage Question:

    If people who are paid less than what they need are to be given an upgrade to a living wage, does it then follow that people who are paid more than they need get a downgrade to a living wage?

    I thought that was called communism but hey, we are speaking about the Malta Labour Party.

    • ciccio2010 says:

      Claude, it is pure communism. Since the living wage debate involved also Ed Miliband, who is a champion of the trade unions, you could call it also Communionism.

  3. Josephine says:

    Sunday, 26th September 2010 – 12:18CET

    Updated: People invited to offer their time and skills to the PL ( http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100926/local/people-invited-to-offer-their-time-and-skills-to-the-pl )

  4. Jo says:

    One more Living Wage question:
    Does it mean that a worker who is single will get less money for the same work engaged in, than a married worker? Will this apply to pensions too?

  5. Live and let live says:

    Daphne, as you imply, to be taken seriously, the Partit Laburista should determine that all its employees, including all those working in its companies and subsidiaries, will from now on get a living wage.

  6. Hypatia says:

    Being apolitical as far as political parties are concerned and, hence, have no intention of defending or attacking any Maltese party, may I point out that the concept of the living wage is also a Catholic one that goes back to, at least, the 19th century. One may refer to the encyclicals Rerum Novarum (Pope Leo XIII) and Quadragesimo Anno (Pius IX). This is just for the sake of historical accuracy. I am just a poor history buff and have no intention of being drawn to discuss party politics.

    [Daphne – I’m glad you brought it up, because other people have been quoting this fact without making the crucial observation that, when the Pope said all that in the 19th century, there was no welfare state and people who did not earn a living wage actually starved in the gutter or went to the workhouse. The living wage was a pressing concern in the 19th century only because there were no social services. The same factors do not apply today.]

  7. Antoine Vella says:

    It is becoming increasingly evident why Labour spends most of its time criticising instead of proposing. As soon as they try to come up with something, all their limitations are immediately exposed.

  8. Anthony Farrugia says:

    Both the Vella Habers (pere et fil) have now left One Productions (call it what you will) for pastures new. I do not think they left because they were not being paid (if at all) a living wage.

  9. John says:

    Tal-One u ta’ Maltastar issemmi?

    Ghax ma tarax fuq liema conditions jithaddmu il-haddiema tad-di-ve.com – freelanchers taparsi. Igaluhom igibu VAT number so that Go mobile doesn’t get to pay their NI and doesn’t have to give them time off pro rata.

    Sa fejn naf jien Gonzi qal li dan l-abbuz ser jinqata, waqt meetings fl-elezzjoni li ghaddiet. Imma hemm ghadu u hekk jibqa.

    Jew ha nghidu kollox jew ma nghidu xejn. b’dan li ghidt, jekk xi haddiema tal-Maltastar ma jithallsux sewwa, ma jfissirx li qed niggustifikah, biss pero kun af li anki newsrooms ohra, mumiex ezattament what one would call ideal!

  10. Fair deal says:

    This living wage will surely create a domino effect. Let’s take a governmetn employee on scale 17 who has a minimum wage plus x. What will be his wage after the minimumwage-earner with the living wage is now earning as much as him? Then of course the same thing with the higher scales.

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