Heavy job cuts among ground handling and office workers

The government has proposed to lay off half of Air Malta’s ground handling workers and more than two thirds of head office employees, according to a General Workers’ Union official.

The proposals say that anything between 200 and 230 ground handling employees from a complement of about 460 will have to be made redundant.

Bigger cuts are expected among office workers with the proposals suggesting between 200 and 240 redundancies from a complement of just over 300.

GWU aviation section secretary Charles Agius said the government was also proposing a cut in employees’ pay packet but it was unclear whether these referred to allowances or the basic pay.

A contentious government proposal also sought to have the last-in-first-out principle removed from the collective agreement, he said.

“The government told us it was only ready to guarantee alternative employment to redundant employees if the union agreed to have this principle removed. We understand the airline cannot continue operating with its current staff complement but it is unacceptable to conduct discussions with a revolver pointed to the union’s head,” Mr Agius said, repeating what union general secretary Tony Zarb had said.

Drawing parallels with what happened in other public entities where restructuring led to job losses, Mr Agius said the GWU expected the government to offer alternative employment.

“We are ready to cooperate to save the airline but we expect Air Malta employees to be treated in the same way other workers were treated when the shipyards and public broadcasting services were restructured,” Mr Agius said.

The union gave its members a presentation of the government’s proposals during a closed meeting on Tuesday.

The redundancies linked to those sections represented by the GWU form a substantial part of the total number of job cuts identified in a restructuring report drawn up by the government’s consultants, Ernst and Young.

The airline is expected to shed almost half of its 1,200 strong workforce in a bid to become financially viable although the government has so far refused to confirm the figure.

Company sources said lay-offs were expected to hit other areas depending on the number of aircraft the company would retain.

The sources said the government was targeting a cost-saving on wages of some €16 million.

Redundancies are necessary to keep the airline afloat after Brussels gave the go-ahead for a €52 million emergency cash injection last year on condition a restructuring exercise is undertaken.

Last week, the government said the steering committee, tasked to oversee the restructuring process, would discuss restructuring measures and redundancies after talks with the unions were completed.