Unions push for Mid-Med Foundation

The Malta Union of Bank Employees and the General Workers Union are pushing for the setting up of the Mid-Med Bank Employees' Foundation.

Both the GWU and the MUBE, in separate statements, made it clear to Government that they will not tolerate any more delays.

Over the past few days, the MUBE met Joe Scicluna, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, and the government's lawyer Dr Louis Degabriele to speed up the presentation of the foundation's final document.

The unions have been lobbying for the foundation for the past two years.

When the government sold its shares in the bank, the original intention had been for Government to allocate three per cent of the shareholding to employees.

However, it was instead decided to set up an employees' foundation with Lm3 million of funding, which, in a nutshell, the employees would benefit from on retirement, depending on the years of service.

Those eligible to benefit were registered as being employed with Mid-Med Bank on June 14, 1999, when it was taken over by HSBC Malta.

But the statute outlining the rules which would apply for the fund to be administered has not been finalised, and until this has been done, no money will be forthcoming from the government.

Once the foundation is set up, the MUBE plans to announce the date when members concerned will be able to approve the foundation's rules and regulations so that it can start functioning.