Arrow Pharm employees are still in the dark about their future, despite reports that new jobs have been found for all 110 made redundant last week.
Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin general secretary Josef Vella told Times of Malta he was surprised by a report in yesterday’s l-Orizzont that announced alternative employment had been found for all workers.
Under the triumphal headline ‘Saved’, the General Workers’ Union daily quoted unnamed sources saying the government had found vacancies for the workers and the problem was now one of retraining.
Economy Minister Chris Cardona said last night: “The indication is that alternative employment could be found for all 110 if they are made redundant.”
Speaking earlier, however, Mr Vella said the UĦM had no such information and the first meeting of a specially set up task force between the union, the government and employer organisations was scheduled to take place today.
The union represents workers at the pharmaceutical plant in Ħal Far.
“Comments like those that appeared in the newspaper l-Orizzont do not help because they play with workers’ emotions at a very delicate time when people crave every bit of news,” Mr Vella said.
He insisted every effort had to be made to find alternative jobs and hoped that everyone was pulling the same rope.
The task force set up by Mr Cardona includes Education Minister Evarist Bartolo, who is responsible for employment, the Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry and the Malta Employers’ Association.
Workers who spoke to this newspaper on condition of anonymity said they were still waiting for news from Arrow Pharm as to who would be made redundant.
“We are expecting the company to start informing individual workers this week,” a young man said, adding the uncertainty was causing anxiety.
Mr Vella confirmed the union would be holding a series of meetings with management this week to be given more information on who is set to lose their job and whether some of the affected employees would be transferred to other sections of the company.
“We are still at the start of a rather lengthy process and I hope the number of redundancies is reduced,” Mr Vella said.
The redundancies followed the company’s 2012 takeover by US-based pharmaceutical Watson, which also bought Actavis sometime later.
Last year Actavis shut down its research and development facility in Bulebel, terminating the jobs of some 60 workers.
ksansone@timesofmalta.com