Out of the 14 journalists who used to work in the PBS newsroom before restructuring started in April, only two have been re-employed so far.
Another one has passed the selection process but has a disciplinary case pending against him.
Six have chosen to be re-deployed with the government, while another five have either retired or have applied to retire.
Most of the familiar faces who have personified television news in the past 20 years will be gone.
The only two “old” faces in the new PBS newsroom will be Ruth Amaira, who was appointed news co-ordinator and Reno Bugeja as journalist/editor.
According to the restructuring plan, six journalists/editors and two news co-ordinators are required.
Ivan Camilleri and Sue Mercieca retired on 9 July, together with another technician.
As from last Monday, Mr Camilleri has started reporting on EU matters for Allied Newspapers and is permanently based in Brussels. Ms Mercieca is now pursuing a new career.
There were two other journalists who asked to retire – Tony Gaffiero and Leonard Callus. However, their request has been put on hold for the moment.
They both have a new job opportunity. Mr Gaffiero is said to be undergoing a selection process abroad, while Mr Callus has been mentioned as the new head of news at RTK radio.
Nathalie Attard will take early retirement and will be looking for a job after failing to get the news co-ordinator or journalist/editor appointment.
Victor Grech and Antoinette Cassar are expected to be re-deployed with the government as they were not selected to fill the positions of news co-ordinator and journalist/editor respectively.
Alfred Musu’ will most probably be re-deployed since he was not chosen as news co-ordinator.
Anna Bonanno and Emanuel Zammit, who is currently Executive Policy and Planning, have not applied for a job with the ‘new’ PBS and are expected to be re-deployed too. Likewise, Paul Azzopardi, who has been Manager News and Current Affairs at PBS for the past six years.
Sources said Mr Azzopardi has been mentioned to head the e-government project with the local councils. However, a spokesman for Minister for Investments, Industry and Information Technology Austin Gatt, who is responsible for e-government, told The Malta Independent on Sunday that “the position of leading the e-government project is not currently vacant and no person has been identified to take over this function”.
Finally, Peter Cossai has been selected both as news co-ordinator and news journalist but is currently facing disciplinary procedures.
PBS chief executive Andrew Psaila told The Malta Independent on Sunday that disciplinary procedures are being carried out at PBS but would not confirm whether these disciplinary procedures were being carried out against Mr Cossai. “It is an internal matter and I don’t think it is correct to comment on this,” he said.
“Unfair situation”
Sources at PBS said Mr Gaffiero was not at all happy with the delay in the retirement process and had made this clear to everybody.
They added that it was rather unfair that these were the only two employees whose retirement request had not been accepted simply because they worked in the newsroom.
So far, among those who had applied for early retirement, 18 were released on 31 May, three were released on 9 July and another 26 on Friday.
Only Mr Gaffiero and Mr Callus have not been released, sources said.
“It was never anticipated that the newsroom would end up so short of staff,” sources explained.
It is an “uncomfortable” situation for those who would like to leave the company, they added.
Asked for his comments, Mr Psaila said: “The company has considered its position and must ensure that the process of newsgathering goes on.”
The Malta Independent on Sunday has learnt that over the past week, the news bulletin at PBS has been produced by only two to three journalists.
Stop-leave, overtime ordered
As a result of this unexpected exodus of journalists from the PBS newsroom, the remaining journalists have been issued a stop-leave directive by management.
Mr Psaila said he was not aware of a stop-leave directive in the newsroom and would need to confirm it with the Manager News (Mr Azzopardi).
Asked whether the stop-leave was needed in the middle of summer with no major news event in sight, he said there was “nothing wrong” if a stop-leave directive had indeed been issued.
There are instances when leave is stopped because of staff falling ill or going on official business abroad, Mr Psaila said.
Sources also said that journalists who had not been selected for the posts at PBS were being ordered to work overtime. These journalists said they were hurt because they felt they were being “taken advantage of”.
As one employee put it, “those who were told that they were no good as, for instance, film editors, are still doing this job for an indefinite period. Those who were told that they were not good as reporters are still doing that job for an indefinite period.”
“The truth is that the process is still in its initial stages (...) far from concluded,” the employee said.
Second internal call for applications
Indeed, a second internal call for applications for those posts was issued last week. The interviews took place this week and results are expected to be known tomorrow, sources said.
None of the journalists who were not accepted in the initial interview have applied again. According to sources, they said they did not want to experience “being humiliated again” if they were not chosen.
There was only one employee, who is not a journalist, who applied for the post of news co-ordinator, sources said.
The agreement signed between the General Workers’ Union (GWU) and the government on 24 April stipulates that if the vacancies are not filled internally, then an external call for applications would be issued.
When the management declares the internal selection process closed, the early retirement schemes will re-open for a five-day period.
Those employees who did not apply for early retirement, or did not apply for the various posts, or were not chosen, will be re-deployed with government departments or entities.
PBS chief executive “going abroad”
Meanwhile, a controversy has erupted among PBS employees over the reported absence of chief executive Andrew Psaila for a fortnight as from tomorrow.
Mr Psaila would not confirm whether he was going to be abroad or not. “Do you think I should give information when I will be abroad or not?” he said.
A number of PBS employees who spoke to The Malta Independent on Sunday said it was not proper for Mr Psaila to go abroad on holiday when the restructuring process is at such a critical stage.
Sources said the restructuring process should be over by the end of July. Finally, the results of the interviews for three of the four managers at PBS were officially announced this week.
Sylvana Cristina has been appointed Manager Programming (which includes archives), Costantino Abela – Manager Operations and Stephen Azzopardi – Manager Corporate Services.
The position of Manager News & Registered Editor is still vacant, and a notice appeared in last Sunday’s newspapers advertising the vacancy. The applications close on 26 July.
At the end of the whole process, PBS will have 64 employees as against the 178 it had up to last April.
Early retirement schemes to close on Friday - GWU
In a statement issued late yesterday afternoon, the GWU said there are a total of 17 posts which have not been filled in the first round of internal applications, the results of which were published on 7 July.
These were: Radio Co-Ordinator, Studio Operator, Technical Officer (two vacancies), Journalist/Editor (four vacancies), Clerk (five vacancies) and Messenger/Driver/Handyman (four vacancies).
The GWU said the second round of internal applications was issued after Section Secretary Karmenu Vella insisted with the Minister concerned about the matter.
It confirmed that 18 employees were given early retirement on 31 May, another three on 9 July and another 26 on Friday.
The GWU said the early retirement schemes will be open until Friday, 23 July. This confirms that the results of the second round of internal interviews will be published tomorrow, five days before.
The management will then declare the internal selection process closed, and the five-day period stipulated in the collective agreement for the re-opening of the early retirment schemes will start on the same day.
The GWU called on the PBS management to accept all requests for early retirement immediately. It also called on the government to take on, as soon as possible, all those employees who wished to be re-deployed with the government as agreed.
The union said it had received a number of complaints from employees who said they were not selected to stay on at the ‘new’ PBS despite having more qualifications, experience and skills than some of the people who were actually employed.
“It seems that some of these complaints are justified. Therefore the union will be calling for an investigation and a solution to be provided for these workers,” the GWU said.
The GWU meeting with the workers will be held on Wednesday, 21 July at 11.30am at the Workers’ Memorial Building in Valletta.
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