A call for tenders for security personnel during the Malta Jazz Festival was withdrawn on Tuesday after the General Workers' Union blasted the organisers for imposing a payment limit of €6 per hour.
The Malta Council for Arts and Culture withdrew the call for quotations, saying it was a mistake.
"With a maximum of €6 an hour, inclusive of VAT, it will be impossible for any company to offer full-time employment with normal and accepted conditions of work," the GWU said.
The council thanked the union for pointing out what it described as a "simple error" and promised to issue a fresh call for quotations by today.
"It is not the council's policy to put ceilings on any quotation or tender," CEO Davinia Galea said.
She added that similar quotations were awarded very recently having rates of €5.50 per hour for Carnival 2009 and €5.64 per hour for Għanafest, both including VAT.
When contacted, an expert in security services said that although deplorable, such tenders were common on a government level. He said that since competition was fierce, companies were willing to apply for such tenders anyway but would have to reduce the working conditions as much as possible.
"When you deduct VAT and income for the company, you're left with very little, not enough to be able to employ people on a full-time basis, so some companies employ a large number of part-timers and keep their payment and conditions at a minimum."
He explained that this attracted people after making a quick buck, rather than well-trained security personnel who could bring a sense of quality to their job.
"Many of them are not up to standard, so the industry can never develop as it should. In the UK, security staff are health and safety officers who take their jobs seriously. But you cannot get quality if you don't pay for it."
The GWU described the council's tender as "unacceptable" and said it "consolidates the exploitation of workers".
Union section head Cory Greenland explained that if the companies worked at a loss or employed part-timers without giving them leave or other benefits, the security personnel might end up receiving the minimum wage.
"But this is less than the going rate. You don't expect it from a government entity," he said.
"The GWU cannot comprehend how a government entity, such as the Malta Council for Arts and Culture, freezes the already precarious working conditions of the employees in the security sector by deliberately conditioning the call for tenders to a maximum of €6 an hour."
The GWU also said the tender undermined Social Policy Minister John Dalli's directive for tenders of government contracts to include details of employees' conditions.
The union yesterday thanked the council for its swift action.