Author: SME Chamber

The Malta-EU Steering and Action
Committee (MEUSAC), in collaboration with the Ministry for Transport and
Infrastructure and the Ministry for Tourism, will be organising a consultation
session on a Package of Proposals from the European Commission entitled ‘Single
European Sky 2+‘.

This consultation will
mainly focus on the following key elements namely:

Better Safety and oversight;

Better Air Traffic Management Performance;

New business opportunities in support services;

Enabling industrial partnerships.

The consultation session
will be held on October 2, at MEUSAC, 280, Republic Street, Valletta at 2pm.

GRTU would like to pass on to
you an invitation to the National Annual HR Conference organized by the
Foundation of Human Resources Development. The Conference will be held on
Friday 11th October at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta.

Below is the programme:

09.05 Nine habits of HR professionals that make them
indispensible for business success

10.00 Workshop A

– Talent Management at Actavis
and SRTechnics

– Raising the HR bar – a plan of
action

– Virtually everyone manages pro jects – even if it's not in your job title

11.00 Coffee Break including Networking   and Exhibition

11.30 Workshop B

– Managing Performance at BOV

– HR as a catalyst in the public
sector

– Negotiating sustainable reward systems and
competition

12.30 Lunch Break

13.45 Workshop C

– Sharpening HR practice through
competencies: 3 practical examples

– Awareness of Occupational
Health & Safety  Legislation amongst
employers

– Strategic HR and Social Media – Groundbreaking
methods of HR

14.45 Panel Discussion

HR strategy and the link to workforce management with
particular emphasis on bridging skills required

15.45 You can only create that which you can IMAGINE Imagine
success and breed success

16.30 Networking time

17.00 End of Conference

A conference fee
of €200 applies and discounts are available on group bookings.

Further information and
online registration is available at: http://www.fhrd.org/?page=event-details&id=51 or by calling Nadine Borg on 2137 0685 or email

EuroCommerce and Food Drink
Europe have launched a joint guidance brochure on the EU labelling rules, which
will enter into force on 14 December of this year.
The comprehensive, 99-page
document, developed over the last two years by the two organisations, is aiming
to provide a common understanding between European retailers and manufactures
on what the new EU requirements mean in practice.

The Guidance should be of
particular help to small and medium-sized food business operators in their work
to comply with this complex piece of legislation. The document, available only
online, includes a Q&A section. It will remain as a 'live' document, to be
updated on the basis of ongoing discussions with and between the Commission and
Member States.

This guidance brochure
can be found at:

http://www.eurocommerce.be/resource-centre.aspx#Publication/6282

GRTU Renewable Energy Section
representative, Noel Gauci attended an interesting round-table discussion
related to country specific recommendations of the Commission to Malta in
relation to Eco Sustainability. Anne Charlotte Becker, the policy officer for internal
and inter-institutional relations within the Commission Directorate General for
Climate Change, took particular interest in arguments raised by GRTU. In fact
she intends to keep contact and seek information through GRTU in the future.

She was mainly interested
in the fact that we have been preaching that renewable energy projects need to
generate green jobs, as this is the main concern of the Commission regarding
Malta. GRTU emphasized that we are basing ourselves on the interconnector but
this will not create jobs locally. Mr Gauci also made reference to the new
power stations and Ms Becker stated that these make little difference when it
comes to emissions. Her main point was that reaching emission targets is not
enough, we need to create green jobs as well. This has been sustained
constantly by GRTU when we emphasize that projects like the PV farm, which we
as GRTU are also promoting, should be managed by a wider organization that
would split the work generated by the investment between all qualified
installer so that everyone can reap the benefits instead of having a tender won
by one company.

Mr Gauci also went on to
make a number of suggestions in line with Eco Sustainability:

–    Having
charging points for electric vehicles installed across Malta and Gozo that
would encourage drivers to    purchase
electric vehicles.

–    Education
campaigns to encourage people to walk or cycle short distances rather than
using their car, along      with proper
safe cycle lanes.

We have been for years hearing
about the issue of skills mismatch, which is indeed a real concern and has
proved to be a challenge that has limited the advancement of our enterprises
and that of our workers.

Skills mismatch is the
situation where enterprises do not find individuals with the right skills to
employ. This is mainly the result of lack of communication between the world of
education and the world of work. We sometimes take this relationship for
granted however a conscious effort has to be made to bring the two worlds
closer together.

There are a number of
options available to tackle the issue and it is good news that Government is
looking into the best options with the collaboration of social partners. A lot
of background work is currently being undertaken in this respect. One issue the
Government and employers representatives are looking into is the establishment
of skills councils.

Skills Councils are
independent, employer-led organizations that are committed to working in
partnership to create the conditions for increased employer investment in
skills which will drive enterprise and create jobs and sustainable economic
growth. Their remit is also to produce high quality information on emerging
demands for skills in the labour market, identify skills gaps develop
occupational standards and qualifications, career awareness materials and help
teachers and trainers in their guidance of students.

We share the belief that
the sectoral approach is the most effective way to do this. Through their
sectoral reach, Sectoral Skills Councils are ideally placed to articulate the
voice of employers on skills; to develop innovative skills solutions and to
galvanise employer ambition and investment in skills and job creation. In doing
so, they are key strategic partners in creating the conditions for increased
investment in skills.

GRTU following
consultation with members has already identified specific sectors where skills
councils are required these include commerce, the green economy, crafts,
laundry and dry cleaning, hairdressing, meat processing, printing and
strategically important economic sectors.

Research on this subject
is currently being undertaken. Anyone interested in having their sector
included or having ideas in this regard should contact GRTU.

Packaging and Packaging Waste
Compliance leaves much to be desired. Today over 2600 Produces are financial
contributors to the existing two Authorised schemes.
In 2010, 766 producers
claimed to be self-complaint to the legislation. When the competent Authority
requested proof it become known, and only one 7th March 2013 at 5.08 pm, that
these producers place 15,733 tons on the market and as such needed to recover
cumulatively over 53% of market placement

Instead certificates submitted to
MEPA for the period showed recovery of 566 tons, a 55.8% of the market placement.
This is not acceptable to ‘ bona fide' producers who pay schemes financially.
No new members have joined schemes since Jan 2012 when enforcement was
moved/transferred to the Enforcement Directorate. 

To add insult to injury,
since the MEPA segregation between Environment and planning is still taking
place, MEPA Enforcement is not enforcing legislation LN 277 of 2006 and
subsequent circulars issued to enforce such legislation.

Why is this? It's simple!
When the segregation issue is over it will be Minister Leo Brincat who will be
burdened with the issue, and whatever happens from then on, would only mirror
badly on Minister Leo Brincat. Whist we are sure that Minister Leo Brincat is
astute enough to take decisions without any bickering it is not fair that a
Directorate with substantial manpower has since January 2012 done next to
nothing over the enforcement of LN 277 of 2006.

Let us be direct. Green
MT has brought to the attention of MEPA in two meetings that nearly 600
producers (importers) are known ‘free riders'. This means that in the year 2009
they had renewed their Packaging & Packaging Waste Registration and have
not done so for 2010, 2011, and 2012.

Why? Because they did not
have the information MEPA requested them to have, which included an audit trail
of their packaging waste market placement and its recovery and disposal rate.

Without the above, no
renewal could be affected, so these 600 did not renew and MEPA took no action.
Today these 600 producers totally disregard their obligation to comply to LN
277 of 2006, they have done nothing since early 2010, at the least.

On seeing this we
cordially asked MEPA to inform these producers that they are in breach of the
legislation and since they have not come up with the required documentation,
they now have a time frame (60, 90 days) to join on Authorised Scheme. Was this
asking too much?

It seems that for MEPA it
was. As earlier stated this lack of enforcement by civil servants who speak
about being pro-environment but are actually doing well below their standard
requirements.

Time flies and we are now
nearly at the close of 2013. The way things have been going on since 2012,
early January, leave much to be desired.

Current operations are
stalling due to lack of funds brought about by the lack of enforcement. And of
course, one can do a lot of cost cutting measures but it's a pity that these
will include no weekly collections from schools which were until end 2009
serviced by Wasteserv and after that to date by Authorised Schemes. We will now
be asking school to use the Recycle Tuesday's Service, and also a Thursday or
Friday collection where it is available.

MEPA is more interested
in looking within than looking outside, we are giving a wrong direction. We are
playing with our own environmental future.

In this entire scenario,
and if operations start to be reduced, it will have to be Minister Leo Brincat
to shoulder the responsibility. After all the policy always was, that
Government has to move where the private sector cannot cope.

Most of the private
sector is working hard and providing finances to schemes. These are those that
are known, there are many others that need to follow, and it's here where MEPA
Enforcement Directorate needed to be the catalyst.

Green MT, a fully owned
subsidiary of the GRTU has until now been patient, worked day in day, for some
of us without sleep to make this extended producer responsibility an integral
part of our common good. Our calls to make sure that everyone is on board and a
fair level playing field have gone unheeded. Our final call will be on the
Prime Minister himself. We are sure that Dr Joseph Muscat will listen to our
urgent plea. It would then be up to others to take immediate action. Soon, and
so enough, this situation needs to be corrected, all we ask for is a fair and
level playing field for all producers, is it asking too much?

The European Commission
published earlier this year a communication making an official commitment to
the setting up of a European Retail Action Plan. The Communication is high on
GRTU's agenda. We have in fact been involved in discussions at a very early stage,
prior to the issuance of this Communication and later when it was issued we
also submitted a detailed position paper to the Maltese Government to outline
our priorities.

GRTU is now monitoring progress and lobbying in favour of
retail and against any negative aspects that some stakeholders are seeking to
have included.As Europe's biggest
private sector employer, retail has the potential to continue creating new jobs
and wealth. Retail thrives in Europe, employing around 18 million people across
the EU and accounting for 4.2% of GDP. 20% of Europe's SMEs are retailers.

The Communication is a
significant step for retail to be given the importance it deserves. The
Commission's Retail Market Monitoring Report (July 2010) recognised the
positive role that retail plays in Europe's economy and identified a number of
issues that need to be addressed in order to allow the sector to realise its
full potential thus contributing to further economic growth and job creation.

The Commission's plan
aims to further integrate the retail sector in the internal market through the
identification of five objectives intended to create more competitive and
sustainableretail services, encouraging innovation and empowering consumers
through better information.

GRTU was very pleased to
learn that a Maltese MEP, David Casa, has been entrusted with drafting an
Opinion for the European Parliament on such an important topic for GRTU and its
members. So far the opinion seems very positive.

The Opinion focuses on
the importance of addressing the mismatch between labour force skills and the
requirements of the retail sector, suggesting that action in this regard could
enhance the employability of young people, long-term unemployed, older workers
and people with disabilities. It also calls for the enhanced use of existing EU
instruments, such as the Skills Sector Alliance, which support structured
partnerships between skills providers and businesses. The Opinion also gives
importance to micro enterprises in terms providing support for new trends that
enhance efficiency in the provision of retail services.

Mr Casa is currently in
process of accepting amendments to his Opinion; he will then be responsible for
negotiating compromises with other MEPs prior to a vote in the Parliament's
Employment Committee in the coming weeks.

GRTU is informed that
some amendments are being proposed by fellow MEPs which we consider to be
negative. These mostly concern aspects related to shop opening hours, wages and
other issues which we feel are best dealt with at national level. It is not
only an issue of subsidiarity, whereby some issues are the responsibility of
the Member States and not the EU, but also practicality, if we cannot reach
agreement on certain sensitive issues at Member State level, how are we
expected to agree at EU level? Each Member State has its own traditions,
religious beliefs and social system and on such aspects decisions concerning
shop opening hours and working time are based. This is how it should be.

GRTU will also be
lobbying at this important stage of the Opinion before the it is approved by
Parliament.

Increased level of official controls
on feed and food of non-animal origin is in application since 25 January 2010:
Regulation (EC) No 669/2009 provides for a coordinated and uniform control
approach at the EU border when a known or emerging risk has been identified; in
addition to the 'routine' checks performed by competent authorities. The report
lists products delisted from increased controls due to satisfactory levels of
compliance reported in 2012. Others, such as groundnuts from Ghana and India,
okra and curry leaves from India and watermelon seeds from Nigeria were added
to the list for increased controls

Further information can be found at:

http://ec.europa.eu/food/food/controls/increased_checks/docs/results_ms_border_controls_2012_en.pdf

Hourly labour costs in the euro area
(EA17) rose by 0.9% in the year up to the second quarter of 2013, compared with
+1.7% for the first quarter of 2013. In the EU27, the annual rise was also 0.9%
up to the second quarter of 2013, compared with +2.0% in the previous quarter.
These figures are published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European
Union.