The Malta Union of Bank Employees is "seriously considering" its affiliation with the Confederation of Maltese Trade Unions, union president William Portelli said yesterday.
Mr Portelli said there were a number of reasons why his union was studying whether to continue forming part of the CMTU, which embraces various unions having a total membership of about 36,000.
Among the reasons he mentioned where the CMTU's stand with regard to yesterday's protest march organised by the General Workers' Union and representation within the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development.
Mr Portelli said the CMTU had discussed yesterday's event called to protest against government plans to cut the number of public holidays. He said the confederation had concluded that every member union should decide on its own whether to take part or not. No vote was taken on whether the CMTU as a confederation should participate, Mr Portelli added.
The Times yesterday reported CMTU president Alfred Buhagiar as saying that the confederation would not be participating in the protest march.
"As a confederation we will stay out of this protest march but individual unions within the CMTU can do what they like. It is up to each union to see whether it should take part or not. We cannot order anyone to go or not to go," Mr Buhagiar was quoted as saying.
But in statement yesterday, Mr Buhagiar said he never said the CMTU was not participating in the protest march. For the record, the CMTU did not participate in yesterday's march.
The CMTU said in the statement the GWU had invited it and all its affiliated unions individually to participate.
Contacted yesterday, Mr Zarb said he had extended an invitation to all unions, including the CMTU, before the GWU called a press conference on Wednesday to launch the protest march. He said he had spoken to the CMTU president on Friday morning and Mr Buhagiar informed him the CMTU would give a reply on Monday morning about whether it would participate or not. But the CMTU never replied, Mr Zarb said.
"It was through The Times we learnt that the CMTU would not be taking part," Mr Zarb said.
The largest organisation within the CMTU is the Union Haddiema Maghqudin, followed by the Malta Union of Teachers and the MUBE. The latter two represent over 10,000 members between them and the UHM has about 26,000 members. There are other unions within the CMTU, such as the Medical Association of Malta, representing about 400, and a number of other smaller organisations, representing specialised workers and which have a very small membership.
Both the MUT and the MUBE declared they would be taking part in the GWU's protest march, as indeed they did.
"The CMTU does not represent its members well within the MCESD," the MUBE's Mr Portelli said.
"While the MUBE hopes that discussions with the government will come to a successful conclusion, the MUBE council has unanimously voted to support the initiative to protest against the measures being contemplated by the government.
"Apart from the proposed amendments to the Public Holidays Act, the MUBE is also protesting against the way the government, unilaterally and without proper consultation, is deciding to impose measures that may not necessarily address the current issues of competitiveness and do not guarantee concrete and effective results. Moreover, the MUBE reiterates that the government should be careful about the way it legislates because certain measures may seriously adversely impact performance and productivity," Mr Portelli said.