They had published the average salaries about two weeks ago in the Times.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110106/local/average-salary-at-14-466

I couldn’t help noticing another brilliant comment beneath:
M. Sammut
“Where did they get this information? I wish to know what is the percentage of the citizens who are receiving this salary? Most people are on minimum wage or a bit more. I was looking for a job a while ago and the highest I was offered was 10,800 euros for a 40-hour week and I have good qualifications and ample experience. Now I am employed in education with a government entity and I only get 7000 . My job is considered as full-time on reduced hours and I work 20 hours when a teaching grade is 27.5 for a full-time job. “

Two things:
1. If he was offered a job paying 50% more than his current position, why didn’t he take it? Was his 20-hour government job too comfy for Mr/Ms Sammut?

2. If he works half-time (which 20 hours literally is – not full-time on reduced hours), that means he would make €14,000 working full time.

Ok, a third thing:

3. Sammut is a lazy bum.

Although I’m a pro Federalist European (forming my decision from studies), I feel it is of the uttermost stupidity that the PL are saying that the EU is a single country.

Jidrhu li qatt ma harġu mill-pajjiz! Who do they want to fool by taking an EU average out of a statistic and applying it for ALL EU member states?

Case in point: Wages (which ironically I am using for an assignment I have to hand in this week):

Malta: €15756.
EU + EFTA + Candidate Country Average: €21283… And this is an average not what ALL people in the EU earn bar Malta!…

Let me quote some wages which surprised me:
Spain (before Malta) €19,576 (If you actually have a job…)
Slovenia (right after Malta) €12903
Portugal (surprising considering it was part of the EU15) €11397
Poland (as it’s the only European economy which didn’t undergo a recession) €6810

Food for thought?

[Daphne – I have no mentors. I say exactly what I think, and that’s why people take me seriously – even those who hate me for it. And yes, I’m afraid that anyone who was at that protest is by definition a gullible Labour supporter. Even in the unlikely event that I would ever consider Joseph, Toni and Anglu a suitable replacement for Lawrence Gonzi, you would never have seen me on the street protesting about the price of milk, gas and diesel. I am not at all cut off from the great unwashed, who are incidentally not unwashed at all because they are the greatest consumers of bathrooms and bathroom products. On the contrary, I am very familiar with all sorts of lifestyles because I find people interesting and ask lots of questions.

The thing I noticed – and this is right across the social classes – is that people object to price increases only for the things they dislike having to pay for because they’re not fun. So they will object to a four cents increase in the price of milk or a one cent increase in the price of bread, but then will happily pay a week’s wage for a party dress. Protests against the cost of electricity and gas are credible only if the protestors cannot afford to pay for them. This means that they cannot pay for them even after they have stripped away all non-essential expenditure and used their savings. It does not mean that, after you have put money away in the bank, gone out to eat on Saturday, bought clothes and paid your car installment, you are short of money to pay the electricity bill. As somebody else pointed out, you can’t protest against the price of milk and be credible when you have gel nails that necessitate a once-weekly trip to the nail technician at a minimum cost of 20 euros.]

If things are going up because of higher pricies abroad we should not remain with salaries and wages given as unemployment benefit in Europe.

[Daphne – Salaries and wages are the result of demand and supply. This business about ‘European wages’ is nonsense. Waiters and cleaners are poorly paid everywhere, the difference being that ‘elsewhere’ waiters and cleaners do not expect to buy houses and raise families unless they do so with a spouse who earns far more than they do. I don’t think you realise that Malta is one of the best places in Europe, if not the best, to be in a low-paid job, because you can do so much more with your money. I don’t think you realise, either, that most of the problems here with not making ends meet are the direct result of households having only one income when ‘in Europe’ they would of necessity have two. Oh, and the only families with four children are the very comfortably off or, at the other extreme, bums on benefits. Yet here in Malta we have men who take home a thousand euros a month expecting to support a wife and four children and pay all the bills for a household and two cars. Do you think I’m exaggerating? No, I’m not. That’s exactly how it is. Yes, in the past their fathers might have done that, but then look how they lived: children sleeping on straw or roll-out mattresses on the floor, wearing worn-out rags, no cars, no nothing.]

Remember that these MPs have a special pension ( after 2 legistlisures they get a pension and only thirs is uncapped ) THEY ARE ALSO PART TIME and the losers and those people do not elect get a sum.

[Daphne – You know, I really don’t focus on what other people are earning or their pension plans. Taking their earnings or pensions away is not going to help me or improve my situation. The trouble with this society, like other tiny societies, is that people have a tendency to focus on what others are doing and making sure they don’t do better. In larger societies, people tend to focus on themselves and improving their own lot. If more people did that here, we could really forge ahead. Instead of fixating on what others earn, find ways to earn more yourself. And if you can’t, just accept it. Resenting others will only make you miserable while doing nothing to improve your material situation. Meanwhile, seeking to destroy other people’s material gains might make you temporarily happy, but do you really want to be that kind of spiteful person? Bad karma.]

I actually would like to call on people to go and protest and so it will not be organized by any political party or union.
Look at the Arabs now…only here are the sheep.

[Daphne – They are not ‘Arabs’. They are Tunisians. And unlike us, they have real reason for protest and anger, so please keep a sense of perspective.]

I am disappointed in you Daphne maybe you do have an agenda and many are right…I was wrong when I stuck up for you.

[Daphne – I don’t mind at all, Silvio. I enjoy your participation here and it is far more interesting to have differing views rather than views which are roughly the same. But you must remember that just because people don’t say what you wish they would say, it doesn’t mean they have an agenda. These are my views. The fact that they are not also your views does not mean that I am lying, twisting words, or have an agenda. I really do think it is ridiculous for a family of five or six to expect to run a house, a car (or two) and pay all the bills off a single salary of a thoiusand euros. And by that, I don’t mean that their boss should increase their pay or that others should pay more tax to subsidise them. I mean that the other spouse should work, they should plan their families to have fewer children, and they should prioritise their outgoings.]

Because he’s a 37-year-old ex Super One ‘journalist’ who unfortunately may become Malta’s prime minister.

[Daphne – Moderators aren’t there to remove comments they don’t agree with, but only libellous or offensive ones.]

You’d imagine that an EU commissioner would have more important things to do that carp on about the internal politics of a single part in one of the union’s micro states.

Heqq, mhux because he’s a kuwl zaghzugh?

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110115/local/situation-in-the-nationalist-party-has-deteriorated-john-dalli