[WATCH] BA chairperson Tanya Borg Cardona hands in resignation

Broadcasting Authority chairperson Tanya Borg Cardona has handed in her resignation this afternoon, MaltaToday can confirm.

Exiting the BA premises in Hamrun, Borg Cardona and other board members refused to release any comments to reporters who were waiting outside the building.

Asked to state whether the board had discussed her position in light of the industrial action launched by the workers, Borg Cardona said she had no comments to give.

Borg Cardona’s resignation was later confirmed by the Office of the Prime Minister, which said that the resignation letter was handed to President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca.

Whilst at the helm of the broadcasting watchdog, Borg Cardona was also recruited by the government on a position-of-trust basis within the EU Presidency unit.

Borg Cardona has denied any conflict of interest and insisted that she always carried out her work at the BA with impartiality.

The Prime Minister will today embark on a consultation process to appoint a new chairperson.

In a reaction, the Nationalist Party urged government to take the nomination of the new Broadcasting Authority chairperson to parliament, arguing that Borg Cardona’s successor should be approved by a two-thirds majority.

The PN said it was ready to offer its cooperation in choosing a new head that was impartial.

Josef Vella said that the government was refusing to listen to the workers' complaints

Her resignation follows weeks of protests by BA employees, who have accused Borg Cardona of "bullying" them.

Earlier, the Union Haddiema Maghqudin argued that the Prime Minister should intervene in the industrial dispute launched. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had argued that, although he had noted the workers’ petition to remove Borg Cardona from her post as chairperson, the authority was an independent one and it regulates itself.

However, UHM secretary general Josef Vella today said that Article 118(6) of the Constitution of Malta clearly granted the Prime Minister the power to replace the authority's chairperson, whom the union and staff were accusing of bullying tactics and not showing staff any respect. 

Vella said that this government, which prided itself on being one that listens, was refusing to listen to the workers' complaints. 

"Even worse, it now transpires that the government is deducting these workers an hour's pay for every hour of industrial action they participate in," he said. 

The workers have been instructed to walk out of the BA offices whenever Borg Cardona shows up. 

Vella said the unfairness of the situation had been made even blatant when it transpired that Borg Cardona, who earns €26,000 a year as chairperson of the BA, was also employed by the government in another capacity. 

He said the union would wait for the Prime Minister to act while it considered whether to escalate the action, and whether to include other workers in other authorities in the industrial action.