Employees of St. John’s Co-Cathedral Foundation were left without salary and not paid on time in breach of the collective agreement, prompting UĦM Voice of the Workers to issue an industrial directive.

This was not the first time such serious shortcoming occurred, the union said.

“On Friday 24th September employees were notified by e-mail that due to technical problems with the APS Bank they would not receive their salary on that day. Asked for an explanation, the management of the Foundation blamed the bank and the way the payroll is calculated,” they said.

On its part, the union said that it had presented evidence confirming that this was not the first time such a serious shortcoming had occurred while also insisting on a solution through which workers would be paid that same day, as set out in the collective agreement.

However, the management failed to come up with an acceptable solution forcing UĦM had to issue a directive whereby employees were to report for work with casual clothes instead of uniforms as from the next day. This measure was also taken amid concerns that the Foundation’s employees could find themselves in a position of being unable to honour monthly payments such as loans, residential rents and cover the costs associated with the start of new scholastic year.

UĦM is disappointed that despite suspending the directive on Monday 27th September when employees began receiving their wages, the management is failing to understand the serious repercussions that this negligence has brought. Furthermore, the management’s attitude that employees must justify the reasons why they have to be paid on time, is unacceptable.

UĦM Voice of the Workers hopes that the management will evaluate existing internal procedures in order to prevent such thing from happening again, so that employees may put their mind to rest that they would be paid on time.