Some Arriva drivers confused about their payslips were not fully aware of the details of the employer-union collective agreement, the transport operator said.
Responding to questions about the General Workers’ Union statement this week claiming that drivers were regularly underpaid, an Arriva spokesman said some of those concerned were paid correctly in line with the agreement.
“The issue was immediately rectified with an explanation of how their pay is calculated during one-to-one meetings,” the spokesman said. He added there were some “one-off” discrepancies in drivers’ pay cheques, which the GWU had highlighted.
These were due to unclear information on employee timesheets as well as genuine human error, such as the case in which 77 hours’ overtime owed to one driver was calculated as seven hours. In these cases, the amounts due were added on to the next pay cheques.
The collective agreement between the GWU and Arriva was signed on September 20 and some additions were included on November 15. Several Arriva drivers at the Valletta terminus this week told The Times, on condition of anonymity, that they had not seen a copy of the document.
One GWU member claimed that, since November 15, he was being paid €47 less every fortnight for working the same hours.
He claimed many Arriva drivers were growing disillusioned with the GWU and resigning from it.
On the issue of repeated salary errors raised in the union’s statement, several drivers said they had been underpaid for months. “They tell us it’s a problem with the accounts,” one said.
The drivers also complained that Arriva does not allow them to be paid overtime when their last duty of the day runs late due to issues beyond their control.
Contacted yesterday, the GWU acknowledged that Arriva drivers have not been given a copy of the collective agreement, but said it was the company’s responsibility to distribute it.
“Nonetheless, Arriva drivers were made aware of the most important provisions of the collective agreement as these were made public in a press statement by the GWU soon after the collective agreement was signed.
“Moreover, the full details of the agreement have been explained to the workers and subsequently approved and endorsed by 94.7 per cent of GWU members during four meetings for the workers called by the union,” it said.
It is “completely untrue” that Arriva drivers are being paid less than before, it added.
“Arriva drivers are today being paid more while working fewer hours. The working week has been reduced from 54 to 48 hours and from 45 to 40 hours.”
It said “a number” of Arriva drivers had resigned from the GWU but “most of them were reinstated as members following the withdrawal of their resignation”.
Asked for a copy of the collective agreement, the GWU said The Times should ask Arriva for it.
Arriva yesterday started to correct some of the mistakes referred to in the GWU’s statement by issuing additional cheques to the workers involved, the union added.
pcooke@timesofmalta.com