Ministry rubbishes GWU statement

Claims by the General Workers' Union over Tug Malta were not only unfounded but extremely absurd, the Ministry for Investments said.

In a statement on Thursday, the union said that if the government wanted to close down Tug Malta, it should not use the GWU for its own ends.

In another statement, the latest in a string issued since last Wednesday on Tug Malta, the ministry said that proof that the union's claims were unfounded were the initiatives taken by the government in the last three years to restructure Tug Malta and to place it on a sound financial footing in preparation for its privatisation. This included investment in two new tugs. The ministry added that it was in no one's interest for Tug Malta to close down, and it was for this reason that the government advised the GWU not to repeat the mistakes it had made throughout the privatisation of Sea Malta.

The ministry said that if the union was loyal to the true interests of its members, it would desist from its campaign that harmed the privatisation process.

The threat of industrial action in the Maltese ports was harmful to the Maltese economy, to Tug Malta itself and mostly to workers with the company, the ministry said.

In a statement on Wednesday, the GWU had said it was not ruling out industrial action at Tug Malta if the company failed to reply to its proposals for a new collective agreement.