Government says it will offer 'solutions' to Air Malta workers

Updated 4.45 p.m.

The government said this afternoon that it stood by the declaration it made on February 12 to offer a number of solutions to ease the social impact of decisions taken as part of the restructuring of Air Malta.

It was reacting to a press conference by GWU Secretary-General Tony Zarb, who said that the government appeared to be changing its tone about offering alternative jobs to workers dismissed from Air Malta. Mr Zarb said that the workers should not be pushed into accepting early retirement schemes, if they were offered to them.

The Ministry of Finance did not say what alternatives would be offered to the workers, saying only that as it had done in the past, it would offer solutions for all decisions so that they could have the least social impact. It also pointed out that decisions had to be taken in the context of the restructuring plan which still has to be approved by the EU.

In his press conference, Mr Zarb  said that whereas, in the past, the understanding was that any workers who were laid off by the airline would be absorbed by the government, recent comments indicated this was not the case.

Some 600 workers are expected to be shed by the airline as part of the restructuring exercise.

Mr Zarb told a press conference that the union would never accept a situation where the Air Malta workers ended up without a job.

He said that at a meeting for Air Malta workers yesterday, it was unanimously agreed that the government must, by the end of this month, clarify the situation for the workers. The workers also authorised the GWU to take whatever action may be necessary, including industrial action, to safeguard their jobs. 

Mr Zarb said that the change of tune was first detected when Parliamentary Secretary Mario de Marco said that Air Malta workers, like the Selmun Hotel workers, had no job guarantees.

Then the Air Malta chairman and the CEO told a newspaper (The Sunday Times)  that workers would be laid off.

When the matter was raised with Finance Minister Tonio Fenech, he told the union that the matter had to be discussed.

On Sunday Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said there would be pain with regard to Air Malta.

Mr Zarb said there also appeared to be undue pressure for Air Malta workers to accept early retirement schemes. The union, he said, was not against such schemes, but the workers should not be forced to accept them, if they were offered.

Replying to questions, Mr Zarb said the union did not want to resort to strike action,  but would take whatever action was appropriate to defend the workers.

He disputed that 600 workers need to be dismissed from the airline and also questioned why foreigners needed to be brought in to restructure the company.

Mr Zarb said the union had been informed that the Ernst & Young Air Malta restructuring report has cost the government €3m. He said the union never saw the final version of the report which was presented to the European Commission.