Seventy new cleaners are expected to join the public service in the coming days, shortly before the electorate goes to the polls for the MEP elections.
The Sunday Times of Malta is informed that the urgent recruitment drive for new personnel at the Cleansing Services Department is being conducted by the ETC.
This newspaper has seen letters sent to individuals, particularly from the Cottonera area, asking them to give a reply within a week on whether they want to take on a new job as a cleaner with the government.
The letters sent by the ETC’s employment services division at the end of April asked them to declare by last Friday whether they are able to take immediate employment. It is understood that the new recruits will start work next week.
The Transport Ministry, responsible for the Cleansing Department confirmed the recruitment of 70 new cleaners, said the recruitment driver is part of a plan to boost cleanliness in tourism areas.
A ministry spokeswoman said that the initiative, announced in the last Budget, aimed to add staff to a newly set up National Tourism Zones Action Committee tasked with ensuring that the state of maintenance and cleansing of tourist areas is improved.
“For this purpose, the Ministry for Transport and Infrastructure will soon be engaging approximately 70 employees to be deployed in various tourism zones around the island.”
The Cleansing Department already employs some 400 personnel, with two-thirds of them doing cleaning jobs while the others are administrative staff.
Asked to explain why there was a need to recruit 70 other unskilled workers instead of redeploying extra staff currently already employed within the public service, the ministry said that no one was interested in taking on these jobs.
“Internal calls for applications to fulfil the enquired number of employees from among government employees were issued twice during 2011 and 2013,” the spokeswoman added.
“While in 2011 no applications were received, in 2013 there were only seven,” she said.
The Sunday Times of Malta is informed that the 70 new recruits will increase the government’s wage bill by more than €1 million a year.