690 Air Malta employees have registered complaints since March 2013, Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis has revealed.

The Minister, who was replying to a parliamentary question tabled before him by Opposition MP Jason Azzopardi, also revealed that the Air Malta board which handled the complaints was composed of three members.

Minister Zammit Lewis said the board does not distinguish between one case and another so it could not be ascertained what each individual case was about.

When contactedby The Malta Independent, both the General Workers Union and the Union of Cabin Crew said the issues raised by the employees did not concern the unions as such but were related to internal matters.

In the meantime the the Tourism Ministry yesterday announced that President Emeritus George Abela is to lead talks on retirement schemes involving Air Malta staff.

Dr Zammit Lewis held a meeting with the Union of Cabin Crew in which he announced that the committee will include the representation of the ministry, the Finance Ministry and the Air Malta management, and will be presided over by Dr Abela.

The aim is to discuss the way forward on retirement schemes to be offered to Air Malta staff at all levels as well as to hold negotiations on a new collective agreement, with June set as a target date.

President Emertius George Abela had been acting as the mediator between Air Malta and the Unions since January 2016.

In July 2016, former ALPA president Dominic Azzopardi, had told The Malta Independent that the former president had been acting as a mediator, but appeared to be representing the Air Malta shareholders rather than the union.

“During meetings, he would always sit on Air Malta’s side. He also never requested a meeting with us on our own, and would respond on behalf of Air Malta during meetings. In addition, he was the one who told asked us - how many of us are ready to work abroad? He was also the one who said that there could be people who would be made redundant”.

When asked, by The Malta Independent, on the former president’s recent appointment, the Union of Cabin Crews and GWU both spoke highly of the work he has done as the mediator of the unions.