Port workers strike against 'damaging' directive

Port workers yesterday started a 12-hour stoppage in protest against an EU directive on the handling of cargo which the General Workers' Union claimed would threaten their jobs.

The stoppage at Grand Harbour and the Freeport was made up of three chunks of four hours each between noon and 4 p.m., 4 and 8 p.m. and between 4 and 8 a.m. today.

The European Parliament is expected to vote on the directive today. It is proposing that shipping companies would be able to make use of the services of their crews when they make port, instead of using the services of local employees.

Members of the GWU, led by the union's maritime and aviation section secretary, Manwel Zammit, had planned to hold a news conference outside the Ministry of Transport in Valletta yesterday but were instead welcomed inside the building by Transport Minister Censu Galea.

Mr Zammit handed Mr Galea a copy of a petition signed by about 600 workers, out of a total of about 1,000 calling on the European Parliament not to approve the directive. The union forwarded the petition to the European Parliament on Monday.

The GWU's industrial action is in line with stoppages undertaken by port workers in European ports. Identical copies of the petition in other European states had been signed by 16,000 workers and passed on to the European Parliament.

The industrial action was directed by the International Transport Federation and the European Transport Federation.

Mr Zammit said that if the European Parliament approved the directive, workers would stand to lose not only the conditions they had achieved so far but also risk losing their jobs.

The term port workers was an umbrella term that included the workers of the company Cargo Handling, mooring men, the crews who man tug boats and tally clerks, among others.

Mr Galea told the union representatives that it was important to continue the talks that had been started on this sector.