80 Turkish workers who have been striking for the past 20 days have been promised to be paid on Thursday, The Malta Independent has been informed.
The group of Turkish workers have been striking for the past 20 days and on Tuesday decided to go on a hunger strike as a protest for not being paid for months of work.
The workers are hired by TACA construction, a company working on the major Fortina Hotel project in Sliema. Workers contacted this newsroom stating that they have been promised by TACA that they will be receiving their payment this Thursday.
There is no clear confirmation from TACA or Fortina whether the workers will be paid today.
The workers previously stated that they have been threatened by government officials that they will be deported back to Turkey without getting their full payment. Officials from the Department of Industrial and Employment Relations (DIER) had visited the workers on Tuesday and took down their details.
Today, Fortina has announced that it has terminated its relationship with Taca Construction after eleventh-hour talks to restart works on its Sliema project failed, Fortina said in a statement.
Construction works on its redevelopment project in Tigné have been stalled for the past three weeks after Taca’s workers went on strike claiming the Turkish company had failed to pay their wages.
Fortina Contracting gave Taca Construction notice of termination on Wednesday, June 3. However, as a sign of goodwill, following Taca’s request, Fortina Contracting engaged in talks in a bid to salvage the situation, but these discussions failed.
“We have done everything within our power to try and salvage the situation, but Taca’s failure to return its workers on site has left us with no alternative but to confirm our decision to terminate,” a spokesperson for the company said.
“We empathise with the Turkish workers and assure we have done our utmost to not only meet all our financial obligations with Taca Construction for the approved civil works undertaken to date, but we’ve paid over and above to facilitate matters.”
Fortina Contracting is holding Taca responsible for damages resulting from the delays in the project — which recently clinched the Mixed-use Development Malta Award at the prestigious International Property Awards — and will be taking all actions at its disposal to safeguard its interests.
“We are committed to finishing this project and a new contractor will be taking over the works on site in the coming days.”
Investigative Turkish journalist Pelin Unker reports mistreatment of Turkish workers
Investigative Turkish journalist Pelin Unker, who had investigated the Turkish affairs of the Paradise Papers, has also reported about the mistreatment of the Turkish workers. The article which was published on Wednesday evening on Deutsche Welle (DW) Made for Minds, highlights on the issues which the Turkish workers have been facing in the past few days.
The workers who spoke to Unker highlight that TACA has promised they will be receiving their salaries soon. Unker also mentions that the Turkish workers are worried about being deported back to Turkey, yet the Maltese Government does not include Turkey in the list of destinations open for flights to Malta.
Speaking to Unker a worker said “"They rushed us to compulsion, there are no planes, they pay half a salary because we couldn't come. They hand it over. They never complied with the contract, they made us work as prisoners. We stay at the hotel, but we walk for 15 minutes to go to the construction site. "We work until 18.00 in the evening. If there is no police control, we are working on Sundays.”
Unker also contacted a TACA member, who insisted that the workers payments are made by a subcontractor.
Speaking to DW Turkish, TACA Construction Project Manager Melih Murat Kızılçelik said, "The workers are not tied to us, but to the subcontractor company Nivas. Our subcontractor left their jobs because of their salaries. As TACA, we gave collateral yesterday, we said 'we will pay your wages.' "We will take out a loan and pay the staff. Our goal is to eliminate this victimization. Refusing the claim that workers 'salaries have not been paid for five months, Kızılçelik claims that 70 percent of workers in the action will receive 1.5 months' salary. Kızılçelik said, "They did the job as of December. They said that they will keep the January salary in order to protect themselves, and that they will give it when they quit. Every Turkish construction company abroad keeps at least one salary, and even some companies pay two or three salaries in return. "If the worker or engineer escapes, get a money in hand. The workers did not accept the promise of paying the salaries of the subcontractor while they had a 1.5-2 month salary, he asked for all their receivables."”