Industrial action at Maltapost has been suspended after the management and the Union Haddiema Maghqudin (UHM) yesterday agreed to hold a meeting tomorrow to draw up manning levels at the company, which would ensure an efficient service for customers and good conditions for workers.

The agreement to hold the meeting came after employees were locked out of the Central Mail Room for about three hours.

The management said the action was a result of escalating industrial action in the past week which included non-delivery of local enforcement summons, no overtime in EMS/courier operations, no street posting box collections, no split up of beats, no staff transfers, no delivery of government mail, except for pensions and other social benefits, no door-to-door delivery of unaddressed mail and no registered mail deliveries.

Management undertook posting box collections to prevent overloading and to hold mail in a secure location at Marsa.

The UHM and Maltapost are locked in a dispute over staffing, with the union claiming that the company is short of over 40 employees and the management insisting it is only short of five. Meetings held with the Labour Department and the Ministry for Communications have failed to break the deadlock.

Addressing workers as soon as they were allowed back into the office, UHM general secretary Gejtu Vella said the union agreed to suspend actions until tomorrow's meeting, being held at the Ministry of Government Investments.

The company, on the other hand, allowed workers back into their office and would be paying them for the time they were locked out.

There were around 35 workers outside, 10 to 12 of whom had been lured out of the office by being told there was a bomb scare.

The union condemned such action, which it said went against the spirit of industrial relations.

The management promised it would investigate this and would ask the police to take steps against those who spread the rumour.

The union, Mr Vella said, was there to protect workers and would continue to shoulder its responsibility and seek a solution.

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