Air Malta employees and police corps members who feel they suffered an injustice under the Nationalist administration and are not satisfied with how their complaint was handled in the Labour Party’s first term in office are to be given a second chance, the Times of Malta is informed.
Air Malta sources told the Times of Malta that following government intervention, the board of directors of the ailing airline decided to give another opportunity to staff whose ‘injustice claim’ was turned down by the first internal grievances board set up after 2013. The new set-up will be called a Review Board.
“It seems that the government received many complaints by those who were not satisfied with the decisions taken by the first grievances board and who, as usual, threatened with their vote before the election,” a senior Air Malta official told this newspaper.
“They had been promised their case would be reopened if Labour was returned to power, and that is what is going to happen.”
A spokesman for Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi confirmed when asked that the decisions of the grievances board, led by Manuel Micallef – a Labour election candidate and former head of One TV – would be reopened.
“As happens in such processes, reviews of decisions might be required for appeals that are raised with respect to communicated decisions. This will effectively close such process,” the spokesman insisted.
Grievance boards may not be fully transparent and independent, and in many cases lack proper direction
More than half of Air Malta’s staff, some 700, claimed that they had suffered an injustice, usually related to promotion exercises, prior to 2013. Neither the ministry nor Air Malta has said how many complaints were found to be justified and what type of remedy was provided.
The Times of Malta asked the Tourism Ministry to quantify the compensation given so far and name the members of the grievances board who heard the complaints and decided on the cases.
The ministry did not reply.
However, sources said that apart from Mr Micallef, the grievances board had included James Pearsall, former president of the GWU. Most of the staff who made claims were represented by the GWU.
Meanwhile, the Times of Malta is also informed that a similar reopening of grievances will be made at the police corps.
In contrast with Air Malta, the police will be giving a second chance not only to those whose claim was turned down but also to those who did not apply following Labour’s return to power in 2013.
The reopening of grievance cases with regards to members of the police force was announced on Facebook by the president of the GWU’s police union, Sandro Camilleri.
Soon after the 2013 election, Labour set up various ad hoc grievance boards in many of the government’s entities to address claims of injustice under the previous PN administration.
This was done despite the Office of the Ombudsman’s establishment in 1995, primarily to address such cases.
Former Ombudsman Joseph Said Pullicino expressed concern over grievance boards, insisting they “may not always be fully transparent and independent, and in many cases lack proper direction and criteria”.