GWU accused of fuelling industrial unrest - no intention to eliminate right to strike

The government yesterday questioned the General Workers Union's motives behind its threat to order sympathy strikes, as it declared it had no intention of undermining the workers' right to strike.

The GWU has embarked on a systematic pattern to breach collective agreements and fuel industrial unrest, a spokesman for the Government Investments Ministry said.

"We fully support the GWU over the unions' right to take action. But we have to make a clear distinction between a legal and illegal strike," the spokesman said.

The GWU has written to employers, where it holds recognition, warning them it may call sympathy strikes in protest at the suspension of Enemalta workers who were following industrial action.

Talks between the GWU, the Investments Ministry and the Enemalta management over the temporary suspension of aviation section workers stalled on Monday.

The union has been asking the employer to guarantee the workers' full wage for the two days of their suspension, after they took action over the issue of aviation workers' complement. The government and Enemalta insist the suspension was legal as the union's directives had breached the collective agreement.

In a letter sent to the GWU, IT and Investments Minister Austin Gatt invited the union to resolve the issue (on whether action at the aviation section had been legal or illegal) at the Industrial Tribunal, through an independent arbiter chosen by both parties or in court, proposing that the party losing the case would pay the workers' wages as well as financial compensation to Enemalta.

But until yesterday, the GWU had still not replied to the minister's proposal, according to the spokesman.

He accused the GWU of conveniently refraining from making any reference to Article 64 of the Industrial and Relations Act, which makes reference to a breach of collective agreement.

In the case of Enemalta, like other entities, the GWU did not even try to resort to conciliation meetings before resorting to action, he said.

The law clearly states that essential services are not to be affected by industrial action, and yet the GWU ordered a strike which led to the temporary disruption of the fuel-provision service at the airport.

"Our clients and companies should not be affected in any way - public and essential services have to be maintained at all times."

The government will eventually have no choice but to redirect in the GWU's direction all the 'tens of thousands of liri' claims triggered off by the action.

The GWU was not showing any signs of goodwill to resolve the situation to the extent that in a letter sent to the Enemalta management last Thursday, the union section said it was not prepared to hold a meeting unless the workers were reinstated. It also threatened further action.

The ministry fears that through its actions, the GWU is trying to relay a message to the government over its planned reforms at Enemalta, pencilled in for later this year.

The spokesman said it was worth noting the union's actions at Malta Shipyards Ltd and Maltapost to realise a disruptive pattern instituted by the GWU.

"Unions are meant to do their best efforts before resorting to action - something the GWU is clearly not doing."