General Workers' Union secretary general Tony Zarb yesterday appealed for the resumption of talks with the government over early retirement schemes to be offered to shipyard employees, following the stalling of discussions last Friday after failure to reach agreement.

Mr Zarb stressed that the union did not want to disrupt the Malta Shipyards' privatisation process but it could not agree to the schemes unless the government guaranteed employment for those workers who wished to retain their jobs.

Speaking to hundreds of shipyard workers at their place of work in Għajn Dwieli, Mr Zarb explained the outcome of the union's negotiations with Finance Minister Tonio Fenech. Various meetings between the two, aimed at reaching agreement on the schemes as a prelude to privatisation, yielded no results.

On Friday the government announced it would be issuing the schemes this week.

Yesterday Mr Zarb kicked off by clarifying that the union was not opposing privatisation or the early retirement schemes. The main bone of contention was the union's insistence that the government should guarantee employment to those who did not opt for the schemes, he said.

On Wednesday union delegates adopted a resolution demanding that the government provide this guarantee and that the schemes should only be issued when the prospective buyer is known.

Mr Zarb told the assembled workers that it seemed clear that the government had deceived them and their families when, before the election, it had promised it would not downsize.

This was "daylight deceit", he said, since according to EU laws workers had a right to consultation and information but the government instead was imposing its decisions.

For the past two years he had written to the government asking to discuss the future of the shipyards, to no avail. Now the government wanted to resolve the issue hastily.

Referring to a comment made by Mr Fenech to the media, he said the privatisation of the shipyards would not turn out to be like that of Sea Malta (where the government had blamed the union for its liquidation as no agreement was reached) - the union would not allow the government to buy out workers and estrange them from the union.

He appealed to the government to carry on with the talks in a bid to reach an agreement.

"Don't try and use an iron fist with shipyard employees. Don't try to divide them... all they want is peace of mind which you promised before the election," he said.

He thanked Żminijietna, Moviment Graffitti and the Labour Party for their support and also expressed gratitude towards former Labour leader Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici who last Saturday went to his office to express solidarity.

Mr Zarb finally appealed to workers to remain united under the "GWU umbrella".

This message was emphasised by the president of the union's metal and construction division representative, Sammy Meilak, and secretary Pawlu Bugeja who also called on the workers to remain united and not to agree to any early retirement schemes as yet.

In a reaction, the Finance Ministry said that this request was "irresponsible".

The ministry asked why the union was trying to stop workers from adopting the schemes if they felt it was best for them.

It reiterated that the success of the privatisation process depended on the downsizing of the shipyards' workforce. It also reminded the union that the schemes were voluntary and that anyone who adopted the schemes would have a right to seek employment even within the shipyards.