UPDATED - Bus owners threaten strike - expecting payment of subsidy for strike days

(Updates with PTA President's reaction to ministry's statement)

The president of the Public Transport Association (PTA) has issued an ultimatum and threatened a new bus strike if the bus owners are not paid their subsidy for the time they were on strike last July, the Transport Ministry said this afternoon.

It explained that according to an agreement between the governemnt and the association, the bus owners are guaranteed a minimum income. Therefore, whenever the amount of commuters drops, the subsidy paid by the government rises.

The ministry said the association was expecting to be paid the subsidy for the days when the bus drivers did not work.

It explained that when the talks on ending the strike were held, the ATP said that in its view, the government was contractually bound not to stop the subsidy during the days of the strike. The government refused, and it was agreed that the matter be taken to arbitration.

"Now the ATP is saying that the government should first pay it the subsidy for the days when it ordered the strike, and then the government can, if it wishes, take the matter to arbitration. The association is saying that unless the government pays up by Tuesday, February 17, it will order another strike," the ministry said.

The ministry said that it would respect any award by the Arbitration Centre, but it would not bow to blackmail.

And if the ATP ordered another strike, it would again stop the subsidy, the ministry said.

Asked for his reaction, Victor Spiteri, president of the Public Transport Association, said there were two issues.

Referring to the subsidy during the days of the July strike, he said that although it was agreed that the matter, and the amount, would be decided by arbitration, the ministry, unilaterally, had decided to withhold €240,000 for the four days of the strike. The ministry, therefore, had deducted the funds without going for arbitration.

Furthermore, he said, the association was still owed another €1.5 million in last year's subsidies. Such payments were usually cleared by mid-January after auditors inspected the PTA's books. Yet it was already February, and the auditors were only sent this week, when the association warned of industrial action.

Despite this unfair delay, the bus owners had still maintained the service, he pointed out.