Air Malta to employ new cabin crew

“AirMalta will employ again. Is it the right time to employ new employees?” asked Zarb.

MaltaToday asked Zarb for further details, such as the number of employees. However, GWU did not know the number and he could only add that they will most probably be employed for next summer.

During the programme, the GWU Secretary General also said time is being wasted during the steering committee of Air Malta, referring to the report which originally had to finish by January and was postponed to March... only to once again to May.

Gejtu Vella, UHM Secretary General, mentioned that one of the problems in Air Malta was that when the Twin Towers crashed in 2001, the whole world stopped to think on how limit the consequences. However Air Malta did not, and went on with business as usual, thinking it won’t be affected with such an international happening.

Joe Farrugia, MEA Director General, said: “The decision of bringing low cost airlines to Malta was good and we should have done it earlier, something which did not happen because the debates were done on a political level, rather than economically. However, we have to be careful there is level playing between low cost airlines and Air Malta. We shouldn’t help the low cost airlines to make Air Malta suffer.”

He also mentioned low cost airlines do not transport everything, such as cargo, and that Air Malta should should capitalise on this shortcoming.

“State Aid is not a solution anymore. It has to be short-term and be used only to put the company back on track,” said Farrugia.

With regards employees in general, Vella said it is high time for the government to do what he promised three years ago to the self-employed and stop the abuse they are incurring.

Zarb mentioned cases where employees are working with the government through a tender won by their employer. They work in bad conditions. The government was notified about it but did nothing. He also mentioned another case, which happened two weeks ago, where public tenders were issued and the wage did not amount to the minimum wage.

“When John Dalli was still the Minister of Social Policy, he promised he will not tolerate such things anymore, however this case happened two weeks ago,” added Zarb.

Vella said one solution, which has to be seriously discussed, can be to name and shame companies, who did nothing to improve employees’ conditions after discussions were held with them.