Government to find alternative employment for affected workers at Arrow Pharm

The government tried all possible routes to prevent Arrow Pharm from sacking over 100 employees, but the decision was already taken in November 2012, Economy Minister Chris Cardona said.

Arrow Pharm, a subsidiary of pharmaceutical company Actavis, this morning announced that 110 workers are at risk of redundancy.

In a statement, Economy Minister Chris Cardona stated that the government is committed to find the workers affected an alternative job.

“This Government will not abandon them and is committed to find them an alternative job, either in one of the companies already established in Malta or in one of the companies which shall be investing in Malta in the near future” Cardona said.

Mother company Actavis said the restructuring was due to a 50% reduction in packaging volumes at the Ħal Far facility, as well as a drive to make it more cost competitive in the face of aggressive global competition within the industry.

The company said it was ready to support its employees with a comprehensive transition plan during this process.

He said this was an issue of competitiveness, caused mainly by the burden of energy tariffs that negatively affected the competitiveness of the operation.

“This situation sheds light on the sorry state in which competitiveness was left under the previous administration. This is also a sign of the importance of the government’s commitment to reduce the cost of energy for the industry as from next year, as well as the importance of refraining from shocking the industry as used to be done in the past,” the Minister said.