Malta Shipyards sue GWU

Malta Shipyards Ltd yesterday filed a writ of summons in the First Hall of the Civil Court against the General Workers' Union.

The court was asked to declare that the union's actions constituted a breach of the contract between the company and the GWU and to condemn the union to make good the damages sustained by the company.

In its writ, Malta Shipyards claimed that on January 29 it had been informed by the GWU via e-mail that industrial directives were to be implemented immediately.

The directives and the resultant industrial action together with the union's general actions were in violation of the collective agreement in force between the parties, the company submitted.

It said the GWU had ignored the clause in terms of which the shipyards and the union pledged their commitment to comply with the provisions of the agreement.

The GWU had specifically violated its obligation not to make any dispute evident to the shipyards' clients. Malta Shipyards added that its clients were fully aware of the dispute and had held the shipyards liable in damages.

Furthermore, the company claimed that the GWU had violated an express provision of the collective agreement whereby a written agreement made prior to the dispute was to prevail pending a settlement between the parties.

According to the company, there was no impediment to the continuation of discussions between the parties.

Malta Shipyards said the union had failed to observe the dispute resolution procedures contemplated in the collective agreement. This laid down that a meeting had to be held within 24 hours and if no positive outcome was achieved then the parties had to adopt the voluntary settlement procedures established by law.

On the contrary, the GWU had requested a reconciliation meeting days after it had issued the industrial directives.

The company added that the GWU had failed to give notice (of not less than 36 hours) before commencing industrial action.

All this meant that the GWU's actions were in violation of the collective agreement and Malta Shipyards claimed that it had sustained actual damages as a result of the industrial action consisting in work stoppage, loss of productivity and payment of penalties.

Malta Shipyards Ltd asked the court to declare that the union's actions were in breach of the collective agreement and to condemn the union to make good the damages sustained.

Dr Andrew Borg Cardona signed the writ.