About 200 part-time ground staff at Air Malta are demanding full-time employment after four years on a definite contract, the Times of Malta is informed.
Sources close to the airline said a meeting was called by the General Workers’ Union last Tuesday in which top union officials promised part-time staff the union would be insisting with the government to have their full-time status recognised.
“We were promised by our union that we have a legal right to be declared full-timers on an indefinite contract and the union will be putting pressure on the government to deliver what we were promised over the past few years,” an employee in the cargo section said.
“The union did not tell us our demands were impossible to meet despite the government’s declaration it wants to axe Air Malta jobs. On the other hand, union officials told us that, since we are in election year, we stand a better chance of getting what we have been asking for,” another part-time employee who attended at the GWU meeting said.
Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis said publicly the airline had extra staff and needed to shed jobs. However, new part-timers are known to have joined the airline only two weeks ago.
When employees were reminded about Dr Zammit Lewis’s announcement, they replied “confusion is reigning at the company”.
“We don’t know what is going on because the company’s management is in total disarray. However, if we have so many extra staff why is the company still recruiting people? Until 15 days ago we had new part-timers joining us,” another employee said.
“We really cannot understand what is going on.”
The 200 part-time ground employees were recruited in 2013. Although they were supposed to work less than 35 hours a week, they worked much longer hours. In fact, in 2015 they exceeded 2,080 hours of work, equivalent to more than a 40-hour week for full-timers, the sources said.
The workers also argue that since they had been on a renewable contract for over four years, they were now entitled for an indefinite contract according to EU rules.
These latest demands are expected to add to the problems the ailing airline is facing. Air Malta’s management drew up a new austerity plan that was submitted to the government following the failure of merger talks with Alitalia. The plan provides for about 60 flying staff jobs, mainly pilots and cabin crew, to be shed and recommends that all ground operations are hived off.
A committee headed by President Emeritus George Abela has been set up to negotiate new collective agreements with the unions and wrap up discussions by June. This is the second such body to be presided over by Dr Abela.
Asked about the workers’ demands and why part-timers were still being engaged given the company’s financial situation, a spokesman replied: “Air Malta is in regular discussions with the GWU and it is premature to comment further on any talks that are ongoing.”
When contacted the GWU confirmed it is seeking better conditions, stating that "it is supporting the worker’s rights to the fullest possible"