Unions, employers demand consultation

Unions and employers expect to be consulted on the forthcoming reforms at the ports before proposals are submitted to Cabinet.

Competitiveness Minister Censu Galea said earlier this week his ministry would be presenting its proposals on the reform to the Cabinet either next month or in October.

Federation of Industry secretary-general Edwin Calleja yesterday told The Times the FOI agreed on the need of a major reform at the ports but expected the government to consult all stakeholders before changes were implemented.

Malta was a small island and it was crucial for it to function efficiently. Unfortunately, efficiency at its ports hovered around 30 per cent, he said. Costs, four times higher than in other European ports, were sky-high so they had to be cut drastically, he said.

Fewer companies were using the Freeport, he added, and, as a result, the chances for Maltese companies to import and export directly were decreasing.

Mr Calleja said that companies exporting to or importing from the US were having to tranship their goods and local importers and exporters were not pleased with this. "There were times when containers were stuck at the Freeport for about 15 days before they could find a ship to leave for their destination. Moreover, there was lack of readily available routes for transhipment," he said.

Mr Calleja said the Freeport currently catered for three main lines and these were given preference. As a result, it was not the first time that other ships got fed up of waiting and gave up Malta completely. This had affected exports to northern ports in England.

When the Freeport had encouraged shipping lines to call at Malta's ports, Mr Calleja recalled, local exporters had been provided with new destinations but these lines were now so fully booked with their own work that they did not have space for Maltese cargo.

He said that in the Freeport privatisation process it had to be ensured that Malta would be able to ship its own merchandise in and out of the island. The Freeport could not become out of bounds for Maltese industry.

Mr Calleja said that efficiency at the Freeport was very low and this had been admitted even by the Freeport authorities. There was lack of equipment and the available equipment was not regularly serviced.

He said something had also to be done about industry in Gozo. Gozitans were faced with the disadvantage of having to first export to Malta and then to their destination.

When a Port Consultative Council had been set up in 2001 and this drew up a final report containing a number of recommendations in February 2002, the FOI had not agreed with all the findings, Mr Calleja said.

It had been worrying that the Freeport had opted out of the council at an early stage arguing it should be discussed on its own. The FOI protested immediately and criticised the Freeport's attitude. It even appealed to the government to force the Freeport to take part but to no avail.

The General Workers' Union withdrew from the council after some time and they were followed by the Association of Ship Agents. When organisations started opting out of councils, such bodies were no longer effective.

The FOI believed, Mr Calleja said, that the report in question was very vague and unstructured in the manner in which reform was to be implemented.

Joe Grillo, from the Union Haddiema Maghqudin, said the Port Consultative Council had included representatives of port users, service providers, unions, the government and the Malta Maritime Authority. Several meetings had been held and the MMA had finally issued an extensive report about the meetings. A conference had also been held on the report.

Mr Grillo said he expected the government's proposals to be a synopsis of the report. It also expected to be consulted throughout the process.

The report, he added, mainly dealt with the whole picture of the situation in ports including repetitive work, enhancing the economy through reducing bureaucracy, methods of payment and new practices.

The GWU's Manuel Zammit said the last port reform that had taken place was in the early 1990s. About a year ago a steering committee was set up and it had as its members a representative from each the different categories of workers.

This committee had several sub-committees, each being made up of a different category of workers. Unfortunately, he said, only one meeting for each of the sectors was held with only four to five meetings being held in all.

Mr Zammit said the union had not, as yet, received any ideas of what the government wanted and had been surprised by the statement that proposals would be made to the Cabinet soon.

The GWU expected to be consulted before the minister's proposals went to the Cabinet, he insisted.