The Government’s plan to restructure Air Malta failed and lost its credibility – PN
Monday, 8 August 2022, 14:43
Last update: about 27 minutes ago
The PN said on Monday the government’s plan for the restructuring of the national airline Air Malta proved to have failed.
PN MPs Ivan J Bartolo and Ivan Castillo addressed a press conference on the government’s plans to restructure Air Malta in the last attempt to save the airline, which included plans for collective agreements for the Air Malta workers, a large reduction in the work force, as well as cost reduction plans that will see the airline get rid of ground handling operations. The plan also included ending routes that were not viable, and making Air Malta a European Network Carrier.
Finance Minister Clyde Caruana had announced in January that the government’s plan would be completed on August 12. The plan for Air Malta’s employee transfer scheme has since, however, been extended from mid-August to October.
“Eight months have passed, and nothing has been done regarding the government’s plan for Air Malta. As a consequence, the workers still do not know what will happen to them,” said Bartolo.
Bartolo said that the plan did not consider everyone, and the stakeholders were not included. He also said that few changes have been made so far, and the employees of the airline are living in uncertainty which can also affect their mental health.
In addition, Bartolo said that in the plan for change, there was no consideration on the discrepancies in salaries once the workers were transferred to public services, despite the scheme that involves seeing workers of the Air Malta will be employed by the government in ranks commensurate with the current ones. income.
Castillo said that at this time, Air Malta workers should have already found their place and the proposals promised by the government should have already been made.
Castillo said that if the government failed to put into practice what it promises, then it cannot expect to remain credible. He also said that this casts doubt on whether the European Union will give aid from the state to save the company or not.
The plan entailed that crucial points of the restructuring had to be completed by June of this year. “The two phases of the relocation of the workers and the closing of the collective agreements should have been completed by now,” said Castillo. Castillo said that the ground handling operations, which should have seen a change in the service, were not done either.
“This failure endangers the work and employees of Air Malta, and reduces credibility in the government,” said Castillo.
The Executive Chairman of Air Malta David Curmi had said that the deadline was optimistic, but after meeting with the unions in the coming weeks, a final deadline will be decided.