Restructuring events
European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
The Maltese national carrier Air Malta has announced that it is going to cut its workforce by half by shedding 420 of its 890 employees by summer. These job cuts will be forming part of the company’s four year restructuring plan that will save an estimated 15 million euro a year and avert the company from bankruptcy.
The vast majority of these job cuts, 300, are employees engaged in baggage and handling services, which shall be outsourced. The remaining 110 redundancies are cabin crew and administrative staff. Other measures forming an integral part of this restructuring include: addressing the work practices of cabin crew and pilots to emulate the practices of profitable airlines, ending all unprofitable routes, focusing on becoming a European network carrier and cutting aircraft idle time by attracting charter flights.
The General Workers Union (GWU), the union representing the majority of the baggage and handling services employees, stated that it has been preparing for this scenario for years. GWU is confident that the government will honour a 2017 agreement it had signed, which ensures that its members will be provided with optional public employment while retaining their current salaries. The GWU added that it will be conducting a series of meetings with the government and Air Malta representatives to discuss technicalities.
In order to address human resource shortages within the private sector and avoid shifting the problem of excess employment to other state entities, the Malta Chamber of Commerce (CoC) has recommended that redundant workers should first be considered for secondment within the private sector.
The government has announced the launch of a voluntary employee transfer scheme that will remain effective until January 28 following which mandatory job cuts will be made.
Eurofound (2022), Air Malta, Outsourcing in Malta, factsheet number 106150, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://dev.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/106150.
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