Over half of dockers who sought early retirement found another job

More than half the shipyard workers who had applied for early retirement schemes found jobs elsewhere.

A total of 805 workers out of the 1,429 that no longer work at the shipyards have already found another job, recent government studies show.

Another 298 former employees have registered for work and 326 are not registered as unemployed. A government spokesman said these 326 workers could be receiving a pension or had not yet officially been registered as in employment. In fact, a large chunk of this group, 225 workers, are 56 years or older.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi recently pointed out that Lufthansa Technik had just employed 20 former dockyard workers.

A total of 1,485 workers had applied for early retirement but some remained at the yard for some months to help finish pending contracts.

The early retirement schemes were launched in mid-August ahead of the privatisation of Malta Shipyards and are estimated to have cost the government over €50 million. The government is hoping the funds will come from the sale of the yards.

The government had set the privatisation process in motion last June when it had a looming December deadline to put an end to subsidies in conformity with EU regulations.

The privatisation was split into four units: the ship repair facility, shipbuilding, the Manoel Island yard and the super yacht facility.

When the international call for offers closed in February, 14 bids were received. None of the bidders are interested in all four facilities and the Prime Minister has admitted that the offers were below expectations, although he said some of the offers were "interesting".