The government must explain how it came up with “absurdly high” severance packages for Air Malta employees, the business community said on Saturday.
On Thursday, Times of Malta reported that Air Malta employees had agreed to leave the airline by the end of the year, either by taking up new employment or accepting newly offered severance deals.
The government wants to shed hundreds of employees from the ailing airline.
In a statement, the Malta Chamber of Commerce said severance payments may work out cheaper for the country than burdening the public sector with hundreds of “superfluous overpaid reluctant workers indefinitely”.
“What needs to be clarified is the basis on which the amounts being offered have been arrived at,” the chamber said.
The severance amounts, the chamber said, appear to be “absurdly high and illustrative of how the bargaining power of overly protected groups results in unfair outcomes for the country as a whole.”
Workers who opt for a golden handshake are being offered anything between €40,000 and €300,000.
The government is offering €40,000 to those who have served up to five years; €80,000 to those serving 5-10 years; €120,000 for 10-15 years of service; €150,000 for 15-20 years of service; €180,000 for 20-25 years; €210,000 for 25-30; and €240,000 for those of over 30 years of service.
The chamber said that the salary expectations of hundreds of Airmalta employees are not commensurate with their competence and willingness to be productive.
They therefore could not be absorbed by the public sector and would not fit in the private sector either.
“Following years of being paid hefty salaries for questionable output at the national airline that bled millions every year they are now being given a six-figure golden handshake costing the country around €50 million,” the chamber said.
Meanwhile, in a separate statement, the green party ADPD also weighed in on the situation at the airline.
It said that the offer being made to Air Malta workers is a result of “political clientelism”.
“These sums of money are daylight robbery of the taxes we all pay. It is a squandering of public funds to make good on electoral promises which cannot be honoured,” the party said.