The situation at Maltapost

Once again, the Union Haddiema Maghqudin issues a press release regarding the situation at Maltapost.

I would forgive all readers for thinking that the situation at Maltapost is stabilising itself, and that J. Morana, on behalf of his union, is steering the ship into clearer waters. This is undoubtedly the impression that Mr Morana is trying to give.

Well, I feel it is my responsibility to clarify certain aspects of the situation so that outsiders might have a clearer view of the real situation.

The latest press release, dated March 1, states in no uncertain terms that a victory has been claimed on behalf of Maltapost, regarding the definite contract workers. A "significant step in the right direction", claims Mr Morana upon announcing that Maltapost will be granting these definite contract workers an indefinite contract.

This does sound strange, especially when Maltapost still claims that it has a surplus of 266 workers. Strange and mysterious I would say. While on one hand we have Maltapost employees, some with years and years of experience, being told that some of them might not be needed, on the other hand, we have Maltapost and UHM blowing their trumpets and claiming that awarding an indefinite contract to 30 employees was a "significant step" in the right direction and a sign of goodwill.

While I do sympathise with those 30 workers, I would like to remind them that all workers at Maltapost have indefinite contracts, and yet, this did not stop Maltapost from labelling a large number of them as surplus to its requirements.

Another worrying issue is the fact that the government has committed itself to resume responsibility for 160 former government employees. This, of course, has been heralded as another positive step by Mr Morana. Well, excuse me, but was the government not also committed to the agreement reached on January 29, in which the government clearly states that in the case of privatisation or redundancy the workers would have the opportunity to revert to the public sector. What happened to that agreement? And why is UHM ignoring this?

While the UHM readily admits that most Maltapost employees are in a state of uncertainty, in a meeting with the ex-government employees, Mr Morana urged workers to take the opportunity to work, on a secondment basis, with the Foundation for Medical Services (FMS) without being given the opportunity to have a look at the collective agreement currently being negotiated by the UHM, notwithstanding the fact that a vast number of employees stated, during the same meeting, that they did not think this was a fair choice.

Another major blow was struck when workers at the DMS section were informed that their section was being transferred to Gozo and that they would be working either in another section, or with FMS. As the UHM reminds everybody time and time again that it represents the majority of Maltapost workers, is it possible that the management had not informed the UHM about its decision? If it did, was it too much trouble for the UHM to inform workers at Delivery Mail Services (DMS) about their future. So much for complaining about workers facing an uncertain future.

When it was a minority union at Maltapost, the UHM did its best to ride on the waves of uncertainty, obviously created in any company during a transition period. UHM representatives gleefully toured Maltapost branches, gloomily portraying Maltapost's future as a bleak and barren landscape, a landscape which could only be crossed if the workers awarded the UHM with a majority.

Well, Mr Morana and friends, the ball is in your court now and it is time to stop committing own goals.