Port workers will receive a COVID payment, but taxpayers won’t be funding it
Robert Abela announced the initiative, but union boss insists the timing close to election is purely coincidental
Updated 2.35pm
Port workers will receive a one-time payment rewarding them for their work during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the payment will not be funded by taxpayers.
During a general conference of the Malta Dockers Union on Wednesday, Prime Minister Robert Abela announced that port workers will enjoy a one-time payment of several thousand euros, depending on the time they spent working during the pandemic.
However, union president Ryan Fava clarified to Times of Malta that the payment will be taken out of the Pension and Contingency Fund, which is funded by employers of port workers, not taxpayers.
Port workers are employed by terminal operators to carry out various services at the port, including loading, unloading and moving cargoes.
However, instead of paying port workers directly, terminal operators pay the fees to Transport Malta and the authority keeps the money in a port workers’ wages account. Transport Malta then passes on the earnings due to port workers twice a month.
Anyone who employs port workers for their services is also expected to contribute to the Pension and Contingency Fund.
Fava said efforts to increase the amount in this fund allowed the union to facilitate this one-time payment scheme for port workers who continued offering services in the port during COVID-19.
The fact that Abela announced the scheme himself led people to believe that the payment would be funded by the government, but Fava was categorical about the payment being funded by employers, not taxpayers.
The payment will vary based on the individual port worker's length of service during the pandemic.
Fava also said the timing of the scheme – which was announced three days before a general election – was purely coincidental. The union’s general conference is due every two years, and this time it happened to coincide with the general election.
The matter was first flagged by lawyer and former PN MP Jason Azzopardi, who posted on Facebook about a meeting between the dockers union and Robert Abela at the Dolmen hotel.
Azzopardi criticised the timing just days before the election, noting the payment was only being offered to port workers, and not other workers like doctors and nurses, for working through the pandemic.