The cash-strapped Nationalist Party is finally paying employees their March salaries as volunteers have been mobilised in a door-to-door campaign to raise money.
One possibility was the large Safi club, which has a large garden with ample space for a pool
As a long-term strategy the party was even considering selling some of its properties, sources told The Sunday Times.
The party’s dire financial situation emerged shortly after its heavy electoral defeat at the hands of the Labour Party, prompting even a delay in salary payments.
Sources said full-time employees had now received their basic pay for March, but it did not include bonus or overtime.
Overtime payments are substantial because it includes extra hours that the employees put in because of the election campaign.
Some employees, including the newsroom, work on a day-in-day-out system but were urged to report practically on a daily basis because the party and its media needed all hands on deck.
This meant employees racked up weeks of overtime.
Employees were assured these will be paid “up to the last minute of overtime”. Part-timers have not all received their pay.
The party’s management has asked employees who had bank loans and other commitments to come forward so these can be paid first to avoid bank charges.
Meanwhile, the party’s media are introducing cost-cutting exercises, including reducing the number of newscasters on daily news bulletins to one.
As the party’s media continues to implement these measures, volunteers have taken the initiative to do their part for the party and embarked on a door-to-door collection campaign. Although this is not said to have directly affected salary payments, it is contributing towards patching up the deficit, which some sources said runs into millions of euros.
One of the long-term measures the party was looking at was selling some of its properties being used as party clubs.
These one-off payments could go a long way towards balancing the party’s books. One property being considered was the large Safi club, which has a large garden with ample space for a swimming pool.
However, the possibility of selling properties has been met by resistance from several party activists.
Sources said this was a long-term decision, which has to be taken once the new administration takes over the party in the coming months.
The party’s company, Media Link Communications, which runs the television and radio stations and the daily newspaper In-Nazzjon and weekly paper Il-Mument, are expected to be restructured in the coming months. Sources said the party and its companies employ around 150 in all.
When contacted, PN general secretary Paul Borg Olivier said although the party was still experiencing a temporary cash flow problem and notwithstanding its strong asset base, it was still rolling out its salary payments in a structured manner as it had promised its employees.