Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/855205
6 Newspaper post SUNDAY • 30 JULY 2017 • ISSUE 925 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY SUNDAY • 30 JULY 2017 • ISSUE 925 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY maltatoday YOUR FIRST READ AND CLICK OF THE DAY WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT INTERVIEW BirdLife CEO MARK SULTANA Mizzi drives hard bargain for pilots 14 15 "Wildlife laws exist to protect wildlife, not people" Scientists find name for Malta's 'tax haven' rep MATTHEW VELLA DON'T call us a tax haven. Mal- tese lawmakers may bicker over party lines, but you will be hard to find one voice of dissent when it comes to defending the island's financial services industry. But now, computational sci- entists from the University of Amsterdam, analysing over 98 million firms across the world connected through 71 million ownership relations, have lo- cated Malta's place on the global tax map. In a study published in the aca- demic journal Scientific Reports, the analysts placed Malta in the top-10 countries dubbed "sink offshore financial centres" – that is, a country which attracts and retains the profits diverted from one country to another, in the case of Malta attracted by the ef- fective 5% tax rate. Multinationals use complex structures of parent and sub- sidiary companies, to pass their profits from one com- pany to another. In the case of Malta, they can claim an 85% rebate on the tax charged to profits gen- erated overseas. PLANNING AUTHORITY'S HIDE AND SEEK ON CHAIRMAN'S SALARY PGS 6-7 Why is PA refusing to disclose Buttigieg's salary? SUNDAY • 30 JULY 2017 • ISSUE 925 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY today today • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY today • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY €1.75 16 17 Photos of life in the Jordanian refugee camp hosting 80,000 Syrians ZAATARI FIVE YEARS LATER SAVIOUR BALZAN PILOTS and Air Malta management could be set for collision as the nation- al airline's new direction is about to hit the brakes on demands for higher salaries. This comes after tourism minister Konrad Mizzi offered pilots a 5% in- crease in salaries against longer flying hours, an offer that was not welcomed by pilots union ALPA. Talk of industrial action has already been mooted over outstanding pay rises, a pilot who spoke to this news- paper said, although the Airline Pilots Association (ALPA) has to contend with a sizeable number of members who are unenthusiastic about any strike action. Apart from 26 days of annual leave, pilots get a statutory 'day off' of 38 hours' rest after flying: that means that on average, pilots fly some 56 hours a month, far less than European counterparts. But airline management wants pilots to fly at least 75 hours a month. As already revealed in the past, AL- PA's demands in June 2016 included a 30% increase to raise basic salaries to €48,000 and then up to €92,000 before additional payments, apart from back- dated increments since the expiry of the collective agreement in 2016. Mizzi made his mark early on at Air Malta when he asked chairman Maria Micallef to resign, replacing her with former Enemalta chairman Charles Mangion, appointing a new board of directors, and also reintroducing recently-cut flights like the Frankfurt route and bringing back the Tunis route after eight years of stoppage. An Air Malta source said Mizzi was adamant that any salary increments will only be given on condition that pi- lots fly more throughout the year. But several pilots who spoke to Malta- Today on condition of anonymity said flying the European average should also be accompanied by salaries that match those of other legacy airlines. "Mizzi's philosophy is to drive growth, not just cut costs. But the pi- lots know that a lot is riding on their cooperation," the airline source told MaltaToday. Mizzi has already warned that with- out opening new routes – which re- quires Air Malta pilots to simply fly for more hours throughout the year – the company will become insolvent "in no time." 3 LIFE'S A BEACH MaltaToday Survey PGS 10-11 55% want to see fewer lidos and beach concessions where sun beds are being laid out on the beach from early morning