Bus drivers' salary will not be minimum wage - ministry

James Micallef

Feb 2nd 2010, 16:43

So these wages "reflected what the bus owners said they paid their drivers".

What the bus owners SAID? Why have they not been thoroughly audited?

And even if transport Malta has a seperate budget, where is it getting this money from, if not either from teh government or through a loan secured by teh government? Even if this money is eventually paid back by Transport Malta revenues, as in Peter Korsten's comment, where are revenues of 2M or 5M a year coming from, if not either from th egovernment or from the paying public? Either way, they're getting paid twice from our money

Christian Sciberras

Feb 2nd 2010, 09:39

victor vella - You do realize that the American Embassy describes driving/drivers in Malta as erratic and inexperienced?
How better to educate drunk drivers than with heavy fines?

R.Gauci

Feb 1st 2010, 13:01

If its not a minimum wage it is still a low wage to be paid and can't attract people with a good educational back ground to this job as it happens abroad where this job is paid very good and much above the national minimum wage and I know what I am saying as I am doing this there!!
The money should had been invested to attract new faces and not to keep all the present drivers/owners for 10 years, which some of them need more then a basic customer service course to improve their behaviour with all respect to them!! That's the point!!
I really hope that I will be proved wrong and the service will improve with this huge some being spend by the customers/tax payers but as they say il-passat mera tal-futur!!

Peter Korsten

Feb 1st 2010, 09:09

"Where will Transport Malta obtain the money to pay the heftey compensation to the owners?"

Presumably, this will pay itself back over several years. It would be interesting to see how much the bus service is costing the government (or Transport Malta, or whoever, it all boils down to the same thing anyway) at the moment, and how much it will cost under the new scheme. If it would save, let's say, €2m per year, it would pay itself back in 25 years. If the savings are €5m per year, it would pay itself back after 10 years.

Having said that, I don't think you can expect to run a bus service that does not run at a loss with the current prices. It doesn't necessarily have to make a profit, but at least let it break even so that subsidies are minimised.

J. Fenech

Feb 1st 2010, 08:22

i hope that the change in price would not be the only change.

Klaus M. Pedersen

Feb 1st 2010, 08:15

I don't think it matters much if you get € 1,000 more or less a year when you just received a + €1000,000 pay out.

E. Azzopardi

Jan 31st 2010, 23:18

As if this sum is not coming from the taxpayers pockets.

That is the beauty of accounts!!!!!!!

mrtin saliba

Jan 31st 2010, 21:44

Dear minister , please forgive me for being so ignorant. but can you please tell me who is going to finance Transport Malta. Is it that i am paranoid or am i right when i feel that at the end it will be the tax payer ? And please also tell me who the goverment is if not the tax payer in a very wide sense >

N. Bonello

Jan 31st 2010, 21:37

The buzz for the whole week, besides 55 million, has been '10 years at minimum wage' -
Obviously another U-Turn by Gatt.
'Extra-Budgetary' or whatever - from my pocket.

see - http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100127/local/bus-owners-demand-an-additional-euro-10-million

from 27/01/2001
'The government is offering bus owners €98,000 in compensation for old buses and €118,000 to those who own low-floor buses. The sums include renouncing their licence and a 10-year guaranteed job at minimum wage with the new service provider. The whole compensation package will amount to €52.4 million.'

carmel mifsud

Jan 31st 2010, 21:08

This excercise was nothing but a pay-out by Govt to safeguard industrial peace. We get the same drivers so we can expect to get the same poor service.

victor vella

Jan 31st 2010, 20:13

@ Joseph Grech.
Mhux ga ghidtlkhom jien , licenzji ghola u aktar citazjonijiet

R Dimech

Jan 31st 2010, 20:00

Can we please have many other 'extra-budgerary units' that do not need central government financial assistance, thus alleviating taxpayers' burden?

Kieron O'connor

Jan 31st 2010, 19:33

Salaries should be based upon qualification to carry out the job, if they pass all the training and driving tests that will be a requirement for the new bus service company then they should be qualified for the appropriate sallary. It is up to the bus service company to set the salary rate, the government will have no control over that.
The government will pay for a service with tax payers money, and it is up to the government to ensure they are getting what they paid for, and if not..enforce fines..or change over service companies.

Joseph Grech

Jan 31st 2010, 19:08

In today's Sunday times there's an article titled ''Muscat insists Air Malta problems must not be excuse for sale''. In this, underneath ''Bus Owners'' we read: ''The government was claiming that this would not impact on public finances since the compensation would be paid by the transport authority. Yet an NSO press release issued in October showed the Authority as an extra-budgetary unit.''
Where will Transport Malta obtain the money to pay the heftey compensation to the owners? If it was Transport Malta which was meeting the bill how come negotiations with the bus owners was seen to by government Ministers? What on earth is ''an extra-budgetary unit'' and where does it get its finances? Who is telling the truth? Citizens have a right to know!