De La Rue workers waiting to be told who of them will lose their job by April were instead presented with voluntary redundancy schemes.

The security printing firm wants to cut 300 jobs over two-and-a-half years and redeploy another 100 employees. The first group of 50 workers were expected to lose their job by the end of April.

David Darmanin, the General Workers’ Union section secretary yesterday confirmed a meeting took place this week for workers. During this meeting, the schemes were explained.

“The voluntary redundancy schemes will be open to everyone,” he said, adding the management wanted to wait and see how many employees applied.

The schemes will be open to everyone

During the meeting there was no mention of 50 job cuts by the end of April, he added. Mr Darmanin said meetings between the union and management would continue on Monday.

Workers waited anxiously over the Christmas period to know whose job would end in April after they were told about the cuts at the start of December.

Initially, the company planned to axe 50 jobs this year, 80 in April 2017 and the bulk in April 2018.

De La Rue workers, speaking on the condition of anonymity due to a media ban imposed by the company, spoke to The Sunday Times of Malta about the miserable Christmas that they had endured after receiving the bad news about the cuts.

De La Rue is the world’s largest supplier of passports and security paper products.

It started operations in Malta in 1975 but now plans to phase out the printing of banknotes in Malta. The company is the second one in as many months to opt for voluntary redundancy as a means to cut jobs.

Earlier this month, HSBC Bank Malta said that it was accepting the voluntary retirement of 130 employees in order to cut its workforce by 14 per cent.

kurt.sansone@timesofmalta.com