Updated - Adds government denial - Workers facing the axe at a pharmaceutical factory have been offered “precarious jobs” as an alternative, according to Opposition leader Simon Busuttil.

Accusing the Prime Minister of double-speak, Dr Busuttil said the alternative jobs the government claimed to have found for the 110 workers at Arrow Pharm were nothing more than one-month contracts at minimum wage.

Dr Busuttil read out an SMS, which he claimed was sent by an Arrow Pharm employee to a party spokesman, in which the worker explained that the alternative job paid some €700 per month.

“Shame on you,” Dr Busuttil said, adding it was incomprehensible how a government that pledged to get rid of precarious work was offering precarious jobs as alternative employment.

Arrow Pharm announced two weeks ago it was halving its packaging plant in Ħal Far and axing 110 jobs.

Last week Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said the government had written pledges from some members of the Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry that they were ready to take up all the 110 workers if and when they were made redundant.

But speaking at the PN Qormi club, Dr Busuttil vented his incredulity:“Is this the solution? Is this the alternative employment being offered? While Arrow Pharm employees are being offered a job for €700 a month the government has no problem to offer [Energy] Minister Konrad Mizzi’s wife a lucrative salary package.”

And now it had been revealed that Labour MP Joe Debono Grech was being paid to serve as a consultant to the Minister for Gozo, on top of his pension and his salary as an MP.

Dr Busuttil said another case of how the government said one thing and did another was the impeachment motion against Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco.

The government had said it would handle this case quickly, but it was actually dragging its feet at every stage of the process.

The Commission for the Investigation of Injustices had stood firm by its decision after the first impeachment motion was declared invalid and a new motion was presented.

But the government had still turned down the Opposition’s request for an urgent meeting of the House Business Committee to move the process forward.

This was a blow to all those who believed in justice. How could the government be believed in its justice reform when it was failing to act against a judge over what the Justice Commission had described as misbehaviour?

Dr Busuttl said the PN cry of Xoghol, Gustizzja, Liberta, was as relevant now as it was 25 years ago.

The government was only offering jobs for those who were close to it. It was obstructing justice, as evidenced in the Farrugia Sacco case, and with regard to freedom, one only needed to see how he was personally facing a parliamentary jury for having made comments in Parliament which the Prime Minister did not like. That the proceedings were being made in parliament, where the prosecutor – the governemnt – had a majority, was unprecedented in Malta.

Dr Busuttil said the government was also failing in many other areas, such as the environment. The former governemnt had pumped EU funds into projects to improve the environment.

In contrast,the present government had decided to anchor a tanker in Marsaxlokk Bay as a gas storage facility, despite the obvious danger to the residents of Marsaxlokk and Birzebbuga, as well as to the freeport..

The government had even decided that it would not build a breakwater.

It was a shame that the government had decided that it was better to berth the gas storage tanker in the bay than anchor it offshore, because that would cost more, and take time to set up.

The health and safety of the people appeared to come second.

The prime minister had said he would resign if the power station was not built on time. So was he putting his political career before the people's health and safety?

It was also important to note that according to an independent report, air quality around Marsaxlokk had not deteriorated as a result of the operation of the BWSC plant.

Labour had said this was a cancer factory. Who would assume political responsibility for this lie?

Instead of taking back his claim, Dr Muscat had told reporters to listen to what the people of Marsaxlokk were saying.

But it would be far better if it was the prime minister himself who listened to the people of Marsaxlokk. What they were saying was that they did not want a gas storage facility in their midst.

Dr Busuttil said the PN was listening to the people and its officials were going around Malta's towns and villages to listen to the people.

The party statute had also been amended to make it easier for more people to join the party.

The party had a mountain to climb following the election, but that mountain could be climbed with hard work, unity and respect for principles, Dr Busuttil said.

GOVERNMENT REACTION

In a reaction, the Economic Services Ministry denied that the Arrow Pharm workers were being offered precarious jobs.

It said jobs were being offered by serious companies such as Playmobil, Methode, Trelleborg, Sigfried, SKAT Ltd and Foster Clark. 

The process how these workers were being offered alternative jobs was being coordinated by the Employment Training Corporation (ETC) and the UHM.

Minister Chris Cardona criticised Dr Busuttil for seeking political capital from a situation which, he said, resulted from the incompetence of the former government. He said the PN had also ignored precarious work for years.

The government, he said, would not abandon the Arrow Pharm workers.