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Karl Schembri
Bus drivers will be on strike yet again today as negotiations with the Transport Authority (ADT) and the Transport Ministry remained suspended over the weekend, leaving the deadlock over subsidies which so far total Lm1.1 million.
Minister Jesmond Mugliett told MaltaToday the government will be providing an emergency service to St Luke’s Hospital from towns and villages from Tuesday on route 75, which has been stopped by bus drivers on orders from the Public Transport Association.
The minister would not say whether the emergency service will be provided by a private contractor, but MaltaToday is informed that the transport authority has already been approaching other potential operators who could take over the public transport service instead of the Public Transport Association.
“I’m still awaiting concrete proposals from the association that would reduce expenditure on public transport,” the minister said yesterday. “But I won’t wait indefinitely. This week we must have a clear decision.”
The president of the Public Transport Association, Victor Spiteri, confirmed that the strike actions will go on and new routes will be stopped this week. Also, the association will start giving termination of employment notices to 40 of its workers from tomorrow.
“The minister has been totally inflexible,” Spiteri said. “He’s incapable of negotiating, while we have accepted to get Lm300,000 from the original Lm600,000 increase we’ve asked for, and all he could come up with was a ridiculous Lm60,000.”
Spiteri said that this week, the association will be stopping route 198 from the cruise passenger terminal to the Valletta terminus – a loss-making service, according to the bus drivers’ head.
Already, the association has stopped routes from 8pm onwards on weekdays.
karl@newsworksltd.com
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