President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca has admitted that work contracts presented to some employees at the President’s Kitchen Garden were “one big legal mess”.

However, she yesterday rejected the label that these were precarious jobs, insisting the contracts were presented to only four employees out of the full staff complement of 26 and were never signed or put into practice.

The President was reacting to a report in The Sunday Times of Malta that revealed how the Office of the President had offered contracts, with precarious conditions, to a group of workers already employed in the Kitchen Garden.

The contracts offered posts on a casual basis, leaving it to employees to pay their income tax and social security contributions, as if they were self-employed. The employees were not entitled to paid sick leave or overtime allowances, even if they worked weekends and public holidays.

Ms Coleiro Preca said she did not see the contracts before last Friday when this newspaper flagged the issue with her office.

I feel I have been done a very bad turn but will not reveal the name of the person responsible

She admitted that the contracts were “one, big legal mess” which conflated three different forms of employment: contract for service (which would have conditions akin to self-employed), part-time and casual employment.

Asked whether she believed the issue warranted an investigation, Ms Coleiro Preca said that no investigations were needed because she knew exactly who was responsible for drafting the contracts and the matter was being dealt with internally.

“Although I feel I have been done a very bad turn, I will not reveal the name of the person responsible. I will shoulder the responsibility myself.”

At the same time, she said she could not be expected to scrutinise each and every document that left her office. “I have people responsible for that... although it seems I might need to do so in the future.”

Asked whether an apology to the employees was warranted, Ms Coleiro Preca said none were needed in this case since no harm was done because the contracts were never signed or enforced.

Some workers told this newspaper that it was only after they reported the issue to the Industrial Relations Department that the President’s Office had told them the contracts would be revised.

Ms Coleiro Preca said that while workers had every right to report the matter, it was not necessary because they were never forced to sign the contracts.

Upon taking over as President, she continued, she was greeted with negligence and gross mismanagement. From the 26 employees, only one had a contract, while others were not even registered with the Employment and Training Corporation.

Garden attendants and kitchen staff were working under a collective agreement which dated back to 2002. Breaks were not allowed while people were not paid for the working hours spent before and after the Kitchen Garden’s opening times.

These irregularities and precarious working conditions had been rectified, Ms Coleiro Preca said.

There are now six employees on a full-time contract while a number of women are allowed flexitime to balance their family lives. “We wanted to rectify the situation of bad work practices while regularisingpeople’s employment.”

She criticised this newspaper’s reporting, saying it was not aimed at educating or helping the workers but was focused on tarnishing her reputation which she had built over 40 years.

The Sunday Times of Malta pointed out the irony by juxtaposing the President’s comments condemning precarious employment during a speech she delivered on Republic Day last year with the employment conditions offered by her office.

The report also included a reaction from the Office of the President.

kim.dalli@timesofmalta.com