Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/946236
maltatoday SUNDAY 25 FEBRUARY 2018 2 News CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 "He was an employee with the Tal-Watt contractor, collecting rubbish. This contrac- tor was awarded a tender by the Bormla local council, meaning he is one of the untouch- able canvassers of Pele," Gauci wrote – refer- ring to former Bormla mayor Joseph Scerri, known as 'il-Pele'. Gauci said he had taken interest in the Mus- cat family's case by helping their son apply for a Wasteserv job and accompanied him to his interview. But weeks later, he was informed he could not be given the job because he was under the care of a social worker. "Because of these episodes I have ended up avoiding certain roads in my own town. If it's no problem it would be useful to give him this opportunity," Gauci pleaded in his email. While Marthese Portelli – today an MP – dealt with Gauci's requests, another request was made for a placement in December 2009, this time from the office of then parliamen- tary secretary Jason Azzopardi. Emails from June 2010 show the resources ministry's secretariat actually forwarding a list of 18 candidates to be interviewed for the post of waste sorters at the Sant Antnin plant. Not only does the ministerial secretariat take an interest in job interviews: in Decem- ber 2010, Beppe Fenech Adami, then a new- ly-elected MP, also petitions Ray Bezzina, the minister's aide, to include other candidates for job placements. He uses his personal email, not his parliament server email. "Days ago you told me that Wasteserv need- ed people for secretarial posts," he tells CEO Vincent Magri, requesting him to call in a recommended applicant for the post. In emails from February 2011, it is the re- sources ministry's permanent secretary, Chris Ciantar, a top civil servant, who re- quests Magri to consider recruiting a particu- lar applicant. "He's in our list," a Wasteserv employee tells Ciantar. "But I have instructions from the CEO not to recruit further personnel for the time being." Ciantar is persistent and tells Magri, "The PM spoke to me about this one. Please help." Magri replies: "We've taken a note of this individual and we have his CV. We speak at the ministry." In an email from April 2011, resources min- ister George Pullicino petitions Magri and Bezzina on behalf of Gozo minister Giovanna Debono for a job for one of her constituents, who had actually already been fired from the job: "Minister Debono spoke to me about one, John Camilleri, who worked as a waste sorter with Wasteserv. Unfortunately he was ac- cused of having stolen plastic cans and some wood, and he was fired because of that. She is asking me if Wasteserv would reconsider his case because 'he is the father of twins who were born right before he was fired and he is literally facing a hard life'." Fighting over the 'recommended' Emails from the same month also show Ma- gri actually asking ministry aide Ray Bezzina to search for three employees who could work as weighbridge operators and clerks. This particular episode reveals a tiff be- tween the two men, when two applicants who do not have the sufficient requisites for the skilled posts are employed directly by Wasteserv. Bezzina, in particular, complains to Magri: "I realised that these people don't have the necessary requisites for these jobs! Had I not found this out I would be employing people who don't have the necessary qualifications you yourself demand and who are no more skilled than those waiting for months on the waiting list. You know how long these people have been waiting for a job… from now on I don't want to have any- thing to do with this recruitment process." In a later reply, the Wasteserv CEO tells Bezzina: "There have been many occasions where we have been forced to see [inter- view] them so that whoever rec- ommended them appears to have assisted them. Now we will inform them that they do not qualify [for the job]." Bezzina fires back an irked re- sponse: "… and tell them Ray Bezzina did not accept them. While you're at it, tell them it was Minister Pullicino." All throughout, George Pullicino is copied in the email. Magri writes back in a grovelling tone: "I al- ways respected the ministry and that's what I will do to the end. I have never mentioned the ministry on employment, indeed we always try to help as much as we can… please be pa- tient for a few days because I do not want to leave Wasteserv with the wound of not hav- ing served my minister well." Overstaffing problems Ray Bezzina's email also illustrate his role as the minister's enforcer, when he complains in an email to the agency's chairman Ben Far- rugia that Wasteserv is not being responsive enough to demands for job placements. Far- rugia writes back saying that he will "make it a point with the CEO so that he replies expedi- ently and that these requests be his priorities too." In a later communica- tion between chairman and CEO, Magri writes back to Farrugia, this time with more aware- ness: "Chairman, I prefer speaking to Ray at the ministry. I have instruc- tions that certain inter- nal documents do not leave here, and we avoid using email on this sub- ject," Magri says, aware that Wasteserv was fac- ing a limit on additional recruitment. "We are waiting for some resig- nations before increas- ing the workforce." Problems ensue with overstaffing issues. In July 2011, Vince Magri informs Bezzina that "it is not recommended that we keep adding staff that we cannot support." He writes this with ref- erence to staffing in Go- zo, and namedrops Chris Said, then a parliamen- tary secretary in Gonzi's ministry, on problems relating to terminations. Said him- self appears in emails r e q u e s t i n g p l a c e m e n t s for Gozitan constituents. "It will be very difficult for Hon. Said to go through their protests when we have their employment terminated within a few weeks," Magri says, recommending a tender for staff recruitment in Gozo who would be then transported to their posts in a Maltese waste treatment plant. And yet, despite even the best efforts of the ministry, Magri says the Gozitan workers were complaining about their Malta post- ings. In one email to Ray Bezzina where he informs him he cannot take on more work- ers he writes: "The van is already full and the workers today were protesting so that they start working in Gozo!" Other requests Even Lawrence Gonzi's personal secretary, Edgar Galea-Curmi, requests Ray Bezzina to find a job for a bus driver who is about to lose his job under the new public transport reform which, unbeknown to them is about to turn into a historic fiasco. Magri replies to Bezzina that he is keeping OPM abreast by communi- cating with them via SMS. The Gozo MP Frederick Azzopardi also sends requests for seven constituents, some of them already working on reduced hours. "You can understand the problem of the lack of work in Gozo. This reflects the unhap- py situation we are going through. People are begging me to work in the waste separation plant, even if it means having to work on the other side of Malta." Claudio Grech, who was not even an MP but was a former staff member in Austin Gatt's ministry and now heading the Malta IT Agency, also used his personal email to request the resources ministry for a job place- ment. And on 18 February 2013, in an email Bezzina sends (that is also copied to Law- rence Gonzi, his wife Catherine, and George Pullicino), he writes: "The Prime Minister is asking me to recommend Buttigieg Tony and Buttigieg David… they applied to work at Wasteserv and they don't have a job." As the months roll on into the March 2013 elections, Pullicino's aide is busy making sure that new arrangements do not scare off po- tential votes. He asks Wasteserv whether it is true that helpers and drivers who collect re- cyclable trash from government offices will be working day-in, day-out. "Let's not scare off workers please… election is 9 March. Please I need to know all changes being planned before that date. Otherwise don't change anything for now. If anything, there is little left and nothing will change much." JOBS FOR THE BOYS RECOMMENDED, FAVOURED & HAND-PICKED relating to terminations. lack of work in Gozo. This reflects the unhap- tion between chairman and CEO, Magri writes back to Farrugia, this time with more aware- ness: speaking to Ray at the ministry. I have instruc- tions that certain inter- nal documents do not leave here, and we avoid using email on this sub- ject," Magri says, aware that Wasteserv was fac- ing a limit on additional recruitment. "We are waiting for some resig- nations before increas- ing the workforce." overstaffing issues. In July 2011, Vince Magri informs Bezzina that "it is not recommended that we keep adding staff that we cannot support." erence to staffing in Go- zo, and namedrops Chris Said, then a parliamen- tary secretary in Gonzi's ministry, on problems