The investigation into Playmobil Malta’s cheap payments of subcontractors which has resulted in the precarious employment of individuals is still ongoing; a spokesperson from the Ministry of European Affairs and Equality has told The Malta Independent.
Last June, the Department for Industrial and Employment Relations (DIER) launched an investigation after this newsroom revealed that ‘home workers’ employed by Playmobil’s subcontractors were being paid as little as €1.90 per hour, less than half the minimum wage.
DIER Director Sandra Gatt would tell the newsroom that during investigations EIRA Inspectors who visited Playmobil Malta and a few of the subcontractors and effected interviews both with Management and employees at the place of work found no wrongdoing in the internal structure of the company but concluded that there was an issue surrounding ‘home workers’.
An investigation concerning sub-contractors and ‘home workers’ was summarily opened.
The newsroom initially reported that the German company engages subcontractors, who then employ Maltese people to assemble toys, paying them between €1.90 and €2.00 per hour to work from home, in a clear violation of employment laws by subjecting individuals to precarious conditions of work.
It was also found that the company requires the subcontractors to adhere to strict production regulations. Documents indicate that for one product the subcontractor will be paid €11.40 for every 1,000 pieces that is produced within three hours. This translates to roughly 350 units at €3.99 per hour, meaning that the workers assemble one piece every ten seconds.
In other instances subcontractors are required to produce 1,000 pieces within for €16 at a rate of 250 per hour. This means that the individual will produce one every fifteen seconds or 1,000 within four hours. It is humanly impossible to produce more units per hour to reach the minimum wage rate.
The well informed and trusted sources also told this newspaper that Playmobil Malta issues invoices to the subcontractors according to the total units produced. This, the sources claim, is a method to disguise the true cost of the wage per hour should the authorities challenge this practice, something which did not happen as yet.
The Maltese company’s current CEO, Matthias Frauser refused to answer questions sent to him when the story broke, with a spokesperson saying that the company refuses to speak to the media.