Mambra staff ‘owed thousands'

Two former employees of Mambra Electronics claim they are owed thousands in unpaid wages and notice money after they were unceremoniously laid off by their employer a day before they were meant to return to work after a three-week shutdown.

On August 2 the sister of Mambra director Joseph Pavia, who is believed to have left the island, informed them that the shop was not going to open, they said. They were asked to pick up their last wage for the month of July two days later.

The closure of the shop may not have come as a major surprise to them since they had been sensing that not all was well but the last payment they were given was only half their normal wage, the former employees, who wanted to remain anonymous, told The Times.

"We were not paid notice money. In December the overtime we worked was not compensated for in cash and instead it was translated into extra days of leave. With the leave we accumulated, the unpaid overtime and the wages we were due, we are owed thousands."

On Monday Joseph Pavia's father, Carmel, who is still listed as a Mambra shareholder with the Registry of Companies, told this newspaper that the company's employees had all left with their wages in hand.

Apart from the two former employees who spoke to this newspaper, Mambra also employed Joseph Pavia's two sisters, his brother and his father.

The two who spoke out have bank loans and although one of them has already found a job the other, who is supposed to get married next year, is still looking for one.

They said things started to look down at the beginning of the year when they were informed that the cost-of-living compensation was not going to be included with their wage packet since the company could not afford it, they said. They were assured that this was only a temporary measure.

The situation seemed to have taken a turn for the worse after March when the employees' wages started being paid in cash rather than by cheque as had always been the case.

"When I had asked about the state of the company I was always assured that it was only a matter of weeks before new supplies would arrive and I need not worry," one of them said.

At the same time the shop had started asking clients to pay in cash the full amount for items that still had to be delivered, in return for a bargain price.

It was this selling technique that set alarm bells ringing among Mambra customers, who first raised concerns about the shop's fate, after they ended up without the goods they had already paid for.

By mid-July employees were informed that the shop was going to close for a three-week shutdown until new stocks arrived. Mambra had never before closed for shutdown.

It is understood that Mambra took delivery of its last stocks towards the end of 2008.

According to Carmel Pavia, the whereabouts of his son are unknown even to his family. Mr Pavia refused to comment on the sudden closure of his son's business when confronted by The Times outside his Fgura home on Monday.

The Times has made several attempts to contact Joseph Pavia.

ksansone@timesofmalta.com