Shipyards foremen, supervisors demand overtime pay

A group of 125 foremen and supervisors at the Malta Shipyards, members of the General Workers' Union, are threatening to join the Union Haddiema Maghqudin or form a house union unless the GWU heeds their claims.

In a petition sent to the shipyard management and the GWU earlier this week, the foremen and supervisors are requesting to be paid for overtime and to have the right to refuse to work overtime.

The petition was sent just before an agreement between the government and the union was scheduled to be signed. The agreement was meant to clarify certain issues that arose when the collective agreement was signed in November 2003. One of the most important points in the agreement is the provision of a Lm65,000 fund that would be administered by the GWU to pay allowances to workers who possess and employ more than one skill.

The agreement also provides definitions on how other allowances for particular jobs, such as working in confined spaces or at certain heights, will be paid.

This agreement has been on the drawing board for over a year and has consumed hours of discussion between the union, the management and Investments Minister Austin Gatt.

The shipyard management has expressed concern about the petition arguing it raises matters that go against both the collective agreement and the agreement due to be signed shortly.

In the collective agreement, the GWU and the government had agreed that general foremen and supervisors would become "non-overtime grades" and that they would receive a substantial wage increase instead. In fact all foremen had received an increase of over Lm1,000. Yet, foremen have been requesting payment for overtime for quite some time now.

A meeting for shipyard workers at the GWU headquarters last October had turned rowdy after they asked for the re-introduction of payment for overtime.

Some had then threatened to resign from the union.