Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/860911
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 13 AUGUST 2017 News PAUL COCKS Officials within the Enforce- ment Department of the Malta Tourism Authority have given of- ficial notice that they will go on an indefinite strike from Wednesday unless their demands with regard to a new collective agreement are met by then, MaltaToday has learned. Informed sources said that the officials – who carry out site in- spections on beach concessions, hotels, rental apartments and student host families – have been complaining for a long time about their conditions, after the last col- lective agreement expired in 2010. Since then, they have never re- ceived any salary increase, ben- efiting only from increments awarded to all civil service em- ployees, except the ones for 2016 which they still haven't received. MaltaToday has learned that talks on a new collective agree- ment started two years ago and, since then, the authority present- ed a financial package for the de- partment's consideration. The package includes a €1,000 general executive allowance plus an additional €1,500 enforcement allowance, but the officials are insisting that the latter should be €3,000, in line with what enforce- ment officers in other depart- ments, receive. They do acknowledge they are Scale 9 employees whereas VAT and gaming inspectors are mostly Scale 10 staff, but they still insist they deserve the same remunera- tion. The sources said that the of- ficials were also demanding that they revert to the working hours they enjoyed before 2016, when they used to work from 8am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. In 2016, they were switched to shift rota- tion, allegedly 'temporarily' un- til a new collective agreement is signed. Last week they reportedly re- ceived an email from the depart- ment head advising them that, as of tomorrow, they would switch to a new three-shift system: 8am to 2pm, 12pm to 6pm and 5pm to 11pm. Under this schedule, officials never have two consecutive days off, including weekends. They are also being asked to in- spect 13 beaches in six hours, from Armier and Ghadira to Sliema, Qawra and Pretty Bay in Birzeb- bugia, and they insist that they are too many to cover properly in the time allowed. MaltaToday has learned there are currently only 18 enforcement officers within the department and three of them will be leaving in the coming weeks. Besides the site inspections, the officials also have to process new rental unit applications and inves- tigate complaints received. General Workers' Union sec- tion secretary Charles Galea con- firmed that discussions with the authority were ongoing. "We had a very good meeting on Friday, and I will be presenting the proposals put forward to the workers then, for their considera- tion," he said. "I would say every- thing is still possible at this stage and we just have to see how things develop this week." MTA enforcement officers go on strike from Wednesday unless demands for new collective agreement are met MTA enforcement officers to go on strike Proposed new work schedule means officials cannot have two consecutive days off