GRTU wrote to Valletta mayor Alexei Dingli to draw his attention once again to a situation that has persisted for too long and keeps repeating itself. GRTU clearly told the mayor that it is totally unacceptable that when there is an event or special occasion in Valletta permissions are given out to operators that do not hold a permanent license to operate in Valletta in direct competition with licence holders that have made a significant investment in Valletta, pay salaries to their employees with fixed employment and are tax complaint.
When there are events or special occasions, instead of giving the opportunity to Valletta shop owners to make up for the very hard days they are currently experiencing, permissions are given to competitors operating from shabby stalls, have not invested a cent in the city of Valletta, operate under very poor standards, employ precarious workers and are in complete disregard of taxation.
The stalls are placed in front of their premises even though they are in direct competition with them, sometimes their own suppliers. We remind you that there exists a law on sale from hawkers and similar temporary operators.
The only excuse given by the Valletta Local Council is that the operators given permission are those sponsoring events and are therefore given freedom to subcontract to 3rd parties, this is not always the case and in any case this is no excuse. The question is beyond any form of control so much so that "foreign" operators are opening up in the streets of Valletta in disrespect of any taxation laws.
GRTU urged the mayor to acknowledge the seriousness of the situation and desist from further creating this scenario.
GRTU also informed Ministers Jason Azzopardi, Mario De Marco and Karm Mifsud Bonnici of this communication and immediately received the backing of honorable Azzopardi stating that he fully endorsed the position expressed by the GRTU.
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