Foremen of stevedores remain without a new collective agreement in place, after 13 years of countless promises by successive administrations, a union noted on Wednesday.

UĦM Voice of the Workers said that it would be registering an industrial dispute effective November 1, with workers willing and ready to take industrial action unless the situation was remedied.      

“These workers cannot afford to wait any longer,” it said.

The union said that the cooperative of stevedore foremen had repeatedly tried to engage the government in discussions to hammer out a new deal, to no avail. It had even met Joseph Muscat when he was prime minister and secured a verbal commitment of a new deal.

But those promises had been left pending and the government continued to resist efforts to improve foremen of stevedores’ conditions, UĦM said.

The union noted that dock workers had been essential during the COVID-19 pandemic, having worked to unload merchandise from ships as it reached Malta.

UĦM urged the government to prioritise the foremen's requests, to avoid further disputes which negatively impact Malta’s economy.

Correction October 14: A previous version of this article described the foremen of stevedores as dockworkers.