A meeting between the General Workers' Union, Enemalta and the IT and Investment Ministry over last week's industrial action ended in stalemate yesterday.
The three parties met at the Department of Industrial and Employment Relations, in Valletta, after conciliation talks over the staff complement and the temporary suspension of aviation section workers were adjourned on Saturday.
While the government wanted to discuss the issues that gave rise to the action, the union insisting on discussing its request that aviation section employees who had been suspended by Enemalta would be paid for the time they spent in suspension.
As a result the discussion led nowhere.
Commenting just after the meeting, the head of the ministry's secretariat, Claudio Grech, said that "unfortunately" the union did not want to discuss the agenda agreed upon during Saturday's meeting and at this stage it looked like discussions had failed.
In a statement, the ministry maintained that the government and Enemalta representatives had explained that actions taken by the workers breached the corporation's collective agreement and so their suspension had been legal. This meant the workers did not have to be paid.
The two parties also reminded the union of its right to resort to the Industrial Tribunal.
But the union insists it cannot accept the suspension of employees following an industrial action. GWU general secretary Tony Zarb said no union in the world could do so, adding that while the union did not expect employees to be paid when they were following a directive they should be paid if they had been suspended by the management.
He described as unacceptable a letter sent by Enemalta to employees, following the action, asking them to sign a declaration stating they would stop observing the union's directive.
Mr Zarb said the issue had now become one of principle and of concern to the whole union and not solely to the section responsible for Enemalta employees. The union would report the outcome of the meeting to the Confederation of European Trade Unions, of which it is a member.
Although the talks had stalled, Mr Zarb said the union was prepared to continue discussing the issue.
The government and Enemalta appealed to the GWU to let common sense prevail and not prolong the issue unnecessarily.
They also warned the union they would exercise their full rights according to law to protect Enemalta's commercial viability and the interests of consumers who should continue receiving the essential services provided by the corporation "in all circumstances and without interruption".
The union last week issued directives at both Malta International Airport and the Marsa power station. The action by aviation section workers led to Enemalta closing down temporarily its aircraft refuelling service at the airport for safety reasons. Later in the week the union's action at Enemalta's fuel storage plants led to long queues at petrol stations.
The actions were called off after the parties agreed to take the dispute to conciliation.