(Updated 4 p.m.)
Some 50 lotto receivers opened today and are providing all services, others opened but kept their terminals turned off, while others remained closed after their stalemate with lotteries company Maltco remained unresolved.
Those who gave all services were not members of the union, one of them, Roderick Mayl, who has his lotto booth in Gzira said.
The receivers had warned of industrial action through their new representative body, the Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises (GRTU), due to lack of agreement on a number of issues.
The lotto receivers are taking the step in solidarity with Paul Mamo, who runs a lotto office in Mosta and has had his terminal disconnected since August 16 as he could not afford to increase his monetary guarantee to €24,000 from €10,000.
Mr Mamo took his issue to court yesterday with a case filed before the Malta Arbitration Tribunal, the first legal point of contact for lotto operators.
In his case, he complained the amounts he owed Maltco never exceeded €10,000 and were always covered by the previous guarantee.
According to the GRTU, the receiver’s maximum exposure was around €6,000, well within the guarantee.
Mr Mamo also filed an application for a warrant of prohibitory injunction to stop Maltco terminating his service agreement as it had threatened to do in a letter.
Lawyers Franco Debono, Marion Camilleri and Charmaine Charett filed Mr Mamo’s case.
The GRTU had warned of action if Mr Mamo’s terminal was not reactivated, giving the company until 5pm yesterday to do so.
GRTU official Joe Attard said the company’s chief executive had offered to meet the chamber on September 17.
However, Mr Attard insisted that Mr Mamo’s terminal had to be reactivated immediately, before the meeting took place.
The main bone of contention between the parties is the monetary guarantee that lotto receivers give the company as an “assurance” for the money they owe.
Some 180 receivers are part of a collective guarantee while the rest, about 31, have guarantees discussed individually with Maltco.
The receivers all wanted to join this collective guarantee but Maltco is refusing to allow this.
Some of those with individual agreements are being asked for steep increases, as in the case of the Mosta lotto office.
Mr Attard said yesterday that lotto offices will remain closed until the Mosta lotto booth is reconnected to the company’s grid, saying it was “inconceivable” that a company could simply turn off someone’s livelihood for some “nonsensical” reason.
MALTCO REACTION
In a statement, Maltco said that as much as lotto receivers had the right to strike, the company wasacting according to the agency agreement signed between Maltco and each and every agent, in accordance with the financial and operational obligations of the contract signed with government for the next 10-year period of operations.
It said that 50 agents opened for business today.
Agents are Maltco Lotteries’ only sales agents and like every other business it is the company’s responsibility to ensure that reasonable sales targets are met and that its interests are safeguarded for the benefit of all stakeholders.
A substantial number of lotto receivers who invested and took their business seriously praised Maltco’s professionalism and support and confirmed that their earnings grew substantially and in some cases even doubled, the company said.