UHM slams 'delaying tactics'

UHM general secretary Gejtu Vella yesterday said that the union would keep pointing out how the government was squandering funds for as long as it claimed that wage increases were not possible.

Speaking at a press conference, Mr Vella defended the union's actions at Agenzija Appogg and warned of even more industrial action if an impasse in collective agreement talks was not broken.

UHM president Gejtu Tanti said that industrial relations were currently at one of the lowest ebbs insofar as the government and state-owned companies were concerned.

Addressing a press conference at union headquarters, Mr Tanti and Mr Vella harshly criticised the way the government is dealing with the union. They said the UHM had been negotiating several collective agreements and issues with the government for months. Up to the EU referendum and the general election earlier this year it was natural for the process to get stalled.

"But now, five months later, we are still stranded. It seems that the government is on holiday. But we will not follow suit. Industrial relations know no summer vacations," Mr Tanti said.

Procrastination and delaying tactics on many fronts were creating unnecessary tension, he added.

"The general trend by the government is not to accept any of the union's proposals and the workers are being left with no option but to resort to industrial action," he said.

Mr Tanti was critical of the Collective Bargaining Unit, just set up by Government to streamline negotiations in government-owned entities.

"Whereas before we used to negotiate with the Management and Personnel Office, we now have to negotiate with permanent secretaries who are unaware of what stage negotiations have reached and what the union's original demands were," Mr Tanti said.

He added that the UHM had four disputes with government departments and had received no feedback to its proposals on early retirement schemes or to its proposal for an insurance scheme for workers whose job exposed them to certain risks.

There was also industrial action at the Broadcasting Authority and the welfare agency Appogg, where more directives were in the pipeline, he said.

Mr Tanti said the union only took industrial actions as a last resort.

"The government has had the cheek to call us insensitive over the Appogg issue. If anyone is insensitive, it is the government which allows issues to reach this point" Mr Tanti said.

Mr Vella said that almost two years ago Appogg chief executive Joe Gerada told all employees in an e-mail that revised salary calculations had been submitted to the board of the Foundation for Welfare Services. According to those calculations, the workers were to have received even higher salaries than had already been agreed with the UHM.

But two years on, the collective agreement had still not been signed, and they were without any wage increase.

The union had taken the matter to the Industrial Tribunal, which was appointed by Government. It was not the union's fault that the tribunal's chairman had since been appointed a member of the government's Collective Bargaining Unit.

The chairman then put off the tribunal award because of conflict of interest.

"The government appointed him and should not blame us for pointing this out," Mr Vella said. "Had the government been in the union's shoes, it would have raised hell about the matter.

"The government should be ashamed to say one thing and do another. If it really wants to save money, it should make savings on things like the fully equipped studio built at the Broadcasting Authority some eight years ago which has hardly ever been used," Mr Vella said.

He said such examples were just the tip of the iceberg and the union would keep pointing out how the government was squandering funds for as long as it claimed that wage increases were not possible.