GWU leads Selmun workers to Castille

Employees of Air Malta subsidiary Selmun Hotel hold protest outside the Office of the Prime Minister.

27 June 2011, 12:00am
by Nestor Laiviera

1 min read

General Workers Union secretary-general Tony Zarb is saying the Selmun Hotel affair "could be resolved in a matter of days" and that it is up to government to take the bull by the horns.

Zarb today led a protest from the GWU headquarters to Castille, where some 50 Selmun Hotel workers are protesting vociferously against therecently-announced redundancies from the Air Malta subsidiary.

Zarb said last week the union had met a prospective UK buyer who is willing to invest up to €52 million in the hotel and its employees. "He has been in Malta for the past five weeks, lobbying unsuccesfully for the hotel."

Zarb said that the UK buyer met the finance minister last after pressure from the GWU. He called on government to reveal the outcome of that meeting. "If the government wants Selmun to be sold as a hotel, it should stop dragging its feet on the issue."

The GWU boss also said that the Prime Minister had promised them "work not unemployment assistance" referring to previous promises that Selmun hotel employees would not lose their jobs, because the hotel was being put up for sale as a going concern.

The finance ministry has reiterated it intends to offer a number of solutions as to how each decision on Air Malta employees can be taken "with the least social impact possible", in reaction to a GWU ultimatum to declare by 30 June whether it will absorb redundant Air Malta employees in the public sector.

More from Nestor Laiviera

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Dawn ma marrux isawtuhom il-pulizija bhalma ghamlu lill-istudenti

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Sur Tony Zarb, mhux il haddiema ta' l-AIR MALTA, u ta' SELMUN PALACE biss igbor ghal strike, imma hemm bzonn ta' solidarjeta mill- haddiema kollha ghax il haddiem xeba' jaghaqla fuq wiccu taht l-arroganza ta' dal gvern u l bella kumpanija, il poplu ma jiflahx ibaghati aktar. HEMM BZONN TA STRIKE GENERALI. Il-bzonn li jsir strike generali ilu u skada, m'ghandniex nistennew izjed

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@ briify - for once I agree with you. Yes, it is the case that the number of tourists in the hotel had been progressively declining over the past decade but this is thanks to the mighty Joe N Tabone who did not renew the management agreement with Maritim leaving the hotel with no strategic partner. Maritim did not bother and they signed another contract with another hotel in Mellieha who never had it so good since then. Yes dear Briffy, all roads lead to Rome, and all the current fiascos lead to the incompetence and bad decisions taken by the ever wise blue eyed boys. @Martin Borg. You are right as well. But not for now. The hotel will be sold to the guy in a year's time when the obligations to employ the current workers by virtue of the transfer of business directive will have been extihnguished and he can employ his blue eyed boys before the election. kollox BIZZILLA MAN !!!

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May I ask whether it is true that the Selmun Palace Hotel has not had any guests since last January? If it is, did this happen all of a sudden, or is it the case that the number of tourists in the hotel had been progressively declining over the past decade, despite the fact that the hotel used to be promoted by the Malta Tourist Authority, which would be a form of subvention? Has any exercise been done by the hotel management to establish the reasons why the performance of the hotel has been so poor, if it has been the case? And, if it has been, what were the results? If the hotel was effectively closed down in January, where the employees still receiving their full salaries and wages and, if they were, was Air Malta, the paraent company, footing the bill?

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There is no way Selmun Palace will be sold to anybody but that blue eyed entrepeneur. who oils the gonzipn's machine, to whom Selmun has been earmarked for already.

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Airmalta employees should join the Selmun workers in a March on Castilleand not just keep on mumbling.

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The government wants to close down airmalta not help it. It's approach makes it obvious. During the crisis the government paid Ernst and young 10 million euro for a report that is not being used. Gave a golden handshake to ex chairman amounting into hundreads of thousands, introduced a CEO being paid 500,000 euro yearly, Is subcontracting restructuring works costing millions to peter davies friends, lastly spent thousands in a reception to tell employers they are being sacked. So where is the reduction in payroll and expenditure? Alpa is wise and finally talked. It realized the government has no intention to help air malta since air malta's main financial problems are coming from contracts the government made with MIA the Mr Bianchi a friend of friends? costing air malta millions annually. Do the people now that when you buy a seat from ryanair for 1 euro the government is giving Ryan air the difference in seat values say 60 euros. These main contracts with Bianchi and low cost airlines are ruining air malta and governments is doing nothing there. His only solution was to reduce workforce ad as stated earlier not the payroll but the workforce. Who knows perhaps because his other friend De Martino has a cargo handling company? Alpa realized the problems and that s why it told him if you really want to save the airline fix the contracts you did with your friends only then we can trust your concern to airmalta otherwise your intention s to close it down and if this is what you want we will do it for you. The Government wants unions to close it down as he s politically a loser and needs an excuse on who to blame the fault of closure. We need a government who believes in the Maltese and who loves it's country more than his salary and his friends.