Shipyards restructuring bill approved through all stages

The Dockyard and Shipbuilding Yard (Restructuring) Bill was approved in committee and given a third reading by the House of Representatives yesterday.

Replying to questions by Labour MP Helena Dalli, Public Investments Minister Austin Gatt said that the time for having worker directors had come to an end and every trade union around the world now accepted that the way workers should have a say in their enterprise was through a works council.

Replying to other questions on how progress at the shipyards would be monitored by the House, Dr Gatt said accounts would be published under the normal financial regulations and the House Public Accounts Committee could decide to debate them.

Opposition leader Alfred Sant asked if the rights and obligations of the Drydocks and Malta Shipbuilding to their workers were being transferred to the new companies being set up to replace them in a collective and an individual sense.

While it was clear that collective rights were being covered, if a worker, for example, realised that the shipyard would have put him in a position which was detrimental to his health after 10 years, how would he be able to exercise such a claim?

Another example could be that of the workers who had suffered because of the Um El Faroud explosion. They may discover, later on, that they could have a claim on the shipyards. Their position, Dr Sant said, should be safeguarded.

Dr Gatt said that the government was assuming responsibility and in such cases workers would be able to sue the government.

Replying to questions by Ms Dalli, Dr Gatt said that the valuations of the land the government had taken from the shipyards were still being made so there were no conditions yet under which the land would be leased or rented out to Malta Shipyards.

He said that while a section of the land would go to Malta Shipyards, the Dock 1 area was to be developed, the foreshore would go to the Malta Maritime Authority and another area would go either to the MMA or to the Malta Development Corporation to be used for industry relative to the maritime sector.

Dr Sant asked if this meant that the shipyards would not have real estate on their balance sheet.

Dr Gatt said that the shipyard's debts were being struck off against the value of the land. Malta Shipyards would have cash assets. If the government left the land on the balance sheet of Malta Shipyards it would be creating an enormous problem for the company as millions of liri were required to repair the quays. The government had to either give Malta Shipyards the possibility for success or create potential problems for the company to see to and generate cash for.

Commercial loans, Dr Gatt said, were given against government guarantees and not on the value of land.