‘Unequal pay for subcontractors’

Around 300 subcontracted workers at Mater Dei Hospital have called on the political parties to remedy a situation that sees them receiving lower salaries than public service employees doing the same jobs.

Clerks, security guards and parkers working for G4S are paid between €1,000 and €2,000 a year less than those directly employed by the Government, according to the General Workers’ Union.

GWU general secretary Tony Zarb wrote to the three political parties yesterday demanding to know their stand on the matter before the March 9 general election.

Mr Zarb said the workers involved had a genuine case and wanted to “know who is really on their side”.

Section secretary Cory Greenland said the union had suspended industrial action at the hospital over the matter to find a solution, but warned it would resume if the need arose to do so.

He said that although the workers did not receive the minimum wage, they were working in precarious conditions because they were being paid less.

“Lack of commitment by the party leaders implies that the parties would be prepared to leave 300 employees working under precarious conditions,” Dr Greenland told a news conference outside Mater Dei in the pouring rain.

He said that although G4S had been affected by the industrial action, the company had nothing to do with the issue because it was simply honouring a contract it had with the Government.

Dr Greenland said that in February 2012, a senior Health Ministry official confirmed in an e-mail, copied to Health Minister Joseph Cassar, that a new tender with the amended salary scales was due to be issued in April last year, but this never materialised.