General Workers’ Union junior secretary Sandro Vella said that Air Malta is being manned by part-timers and the number of full-time workers is depleting.

Mr Vella, who is responsible for the aviation sector, said that for every full-time loader, there are three part-timers and in passenger handling, for every full-timer there are seven part timers.

Mr Vella was speaking to The Malta Independent following a protest by Air Malta’s loaders at Castille yesterday about the way the company is implementing its recruitment process.

While at Castille, the protesters were told to go to the Tourism Ministry, which is situated round the corner from the Prime Minister’s office.

Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis confirmed that he held a meeting with them and discussed the renewal of their contracts and other topics such as working conditions.

Mr Vella explained that the issue at stake is the fact that loaders who have been working for Air Malta for three years were given a definite contract lasting until January 2016 while some loaders who have been there for half the amount of years were given an indefinite contract. The contract however is for part-time work.

He said that those who have been there longer expected to get the indefinite contract. It is understood that only 40 loaders were given an indefinite contract out of a total 150 or so.

Mr Vella further explained the company is arguing that it was in need of team leaders and most of those who were given an indefinite contract were acting team leaders. It is understood that a number of team leaders left the company during its restructuring, opting to retire early.

A spokesman for Air Malta told this newsroom that following restructuring, Air Malta had a number of ground staff resources who opted for the Voluntary Redundancy Scheme / Early Retirement Schemes leaving a gap in resources.

“Throughout the last three years there have been a number of definite part-time employees who were performing duties as acting team leaders. These duties were assigned based on skills set and aptitude profile of all its agents.

“These acting team leaders have now been granted an indefinite part-time contract to ensure continuity of airport operations especially during the summer period.

“One must stress that there is no added financial cost to the airline with this decision,” the spokesman said.

Not all passenger handling staff kept on board

While on the subject of Air Malta, Mr Vella said that not all passenger handling employees have been kept on board, despite having worked for the airline for a good number of years.

Mr Vella said that the GWU immediately took action and is currently in talks with the airline to clarify matters.