Updated | Labour demands repeal of car park concessions, Gatt claims PL defending precarious jobs

The transport minister has dubbed a motion by Labour to repeal the privatisation of car parks as a way of "abusing some of the most precarious of workers, parkers."

Austin Gatt was referring to the unpaid car park attendants who are licensed by Transport Malta to collect gratuities from motorists, in return for their assistance while manning the public car parks.

34 sites are going to be licensed to private operators on ten-year concessions, but car park attendants will have the first right of refusal to match the best offer.

In a statement, Gatt said parkers had no security and depended on a government licence with no guarantee of permanence. "Government and the UHM, the union that represents them, wanted to give security to these workers through these 10-year concessions."

The privatisation of car parks will also attract big company names who are already involved in the manning of car parks.

"It looks like Labour wants parkers to retain this precarious employment, after proposing to freeze minimum wage. These car parks are already privately operated so this is not a privatisation, does not affect residential parking, and no payment fees can be established so far because there are no established fees with today's car parks."

Labour filed a motion calling for the repeal of the privatisation of public car parks, which will see 34 sites issued for tender by private operators for 10-year concessions.

The motion demans that substantial consultation is carried out before proceeding with the privatisation.

The motion, presented by Labour spokesperson on transport Joe Sammut and whip Joe Mizzi, says the privatisation tender carries no mention of proposed tariffs for consumers who will be using the car parks.

"Such a call for tenders is taking place without wide consultation and can have a deleterious effect on residents and businesses. We are concerned that local councils have complained they were not consulted on this development and will directly affect communities around the country, in breach of the subsidiarity principle.

"This House understands the concern that families and businesses are concerned about a rise in costs and the cost of living," the motion said.

The motion demands a repeal of the privatisation process, in favour of a wide consultation process that will report back to parliament the conclusions of this consultation.

The transport authority has published concession tenders for the operation of 34 public car park sites that are currently administered by licensed car park attendants.

Car Park attendants are currently registered and licensed with Transport Malta in accordance with the Motor Vehicle Regulations. They do not enjoy a title over the car park and are only legally allowed to receive gratuities rather than actually being paid for doing a service. They also do not pay any rent to government.

Transport Malta will licence the 34 public car parks to 24-7 operators who must provide security and CCTV camera surveillance, and obtain insurance against third-party damages.

Parking fees are to be determined by the operator, who will receive a ten-year contract.

The reform includes the upgrading of the sites to include road markings where necessary, and artificial lighting which will both be done by Transport Malta.

The charging times in specific sites including those in Rabat, Mosta and Floriana, have been restricted to between 8am-6pm as habitually these sites are used by residents for overnight parking.

Current licence holders are being granted the right to match the best offer in terms of the proposed concession fee, received by Transport Malta with respect to the operation of the car park currently assigned to them.

"The invitation to tender takes into consideration the fact that the vast majority of the existing licensed car park attendants currently carry out this operation as their source of livelihood," TM said.

"If any of the car park attendants are not capable of, or interested in matching the offer, the successful tenderer will be bound to offer them a job at a wage which is not lower than salary scale 20 as published by the government for the public sector."