The Magic Kiosk has been demolished and the embellishment works in St Anne's Square, Sliema are underway but the former employees of the eating place have still not been paid their dues.

"It has been almost three months since our last day of employment and we have still not been paid the money we are owed. Everybody seems to have forgotten us. We are the victims in this story," an irate former employee said.

The Magic Kiosk employed 10 full-timers and an equal number of part-timers. According to the employees who spoke to The Times, the Employment and Training Corporation has worked out the outstanding payments at about €2,340 for each of the full-time workers. The payments are due for unpaid wages, bonuses and mandatory notice money.

The anger of the employees is compounded by the fact that they had to fork out money to make a sworn declaration in the presence of a notary to be able to register for work with the ETC because Magic Kiosk owner Joe Pace refused to sign their termination of employment form.

The money they are owed is only one aspect worrying the employees. They have not been issued with their P3 forms for 2008 by Mr Pace and this is leading to other problems.

"Those of us eligible for children's allowance benefits cannot apply because the P3 is required and those of us nearing retirement age can have complications with their pension," an employee said, visibly annoyed with the situation.

"Last year, we were told by our politicians that nobody is worthless and everybody is important. Unfortunately, we feel we have been thrown away. We expect the government to help us out with this situation," the employees insisted.

Attempts to contact the owner Joe Pace proved futile.

The dismantling of the turquoise aluminium kiosk had started on January 9 after the restaurant's 30-year lease expired and the owner ignored a number of eviction notices issued by the government.

However, despite the repeated warnings that the government did not intend to extend the lease, employees said Mr Pace kept insisting with them till the very last day that there was no problem and assured them the kiosk would not close down.

The government's intention is to turn St Anne's Square into a space to be enjoyed by the public.