The General Workers' Union has promised it would "go all the way" to protect workers' sacrosanct right to take industrial action and would soon order industrial action on a national level in sympathy with Enemalta employees.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday evening, GWU general secretary Tony Zarb said the union would inform all employers it was prepared to take action "wherever it is represented".

Social partners at the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development (MCESD) would also be informed about the matter as the union would call an urgent meeting to discuss the "government's decision to suspend workers obeying (union) directives".

Mr Zarb said the GWU was also asking for a meeting with the Prime Minister.

Talks between the GWU, the IT and Investments Ministry and the Enemalta management over the temporary suspension of aviation section workers stalled on Monday. The union has been asking the employer to guarantee the workers' full wage for the two days of their suspension. The government and Enemalta insist the suspension was legal as directives had breached the collective agreement.

But Mr Zarb said yesterday the GWU had decided to "launch a clear signal that it would not accept any form of intimidation".

He said the government has already tried to "fiddle" with the workers' right to obey directives at Maltapost recently and also when discussions about the Industrial Relations Act had been ongoing.

"We want to defend the workers' fundamental rights. It is clear this is no longer an issue involving just Enemalta but all Maltese workers," Mr Zarb said.

The spate of directives the union was planning would only stop if the government makes it clear that workers who participate in industrial action will not be suspended, Mr Zarb said.

Asked if the union would call a general strike, Mr Zarb said it would stick to the measures discussed during a meeting of its national council for the time being but added that "nothing should be excluded".

In a letter sent to Mr Zarb yesterday morning, IT and Investments Minister Austin Gatt insisted that in the case of "illegal" industrial action, workers would not be protected with the "exemption" provided to them by law which allows them to strike.

In the case of "illegal" action, Dr Gatt said, workers would be "exposing themselves" to disciplinary action as harsh as total dismissal as well as being forced to pay financial compensation to the company. The minister invited the union to resolve the issue (on whether action at the aviation section had been legal or illegal) at the Industrial Tribunal, through an independent arbiter chosen by both parties or in court, proposing that the party losing the case would pay the workers' wages as well as financial compensation to Enemalta.

Mr Zarb however categorically ruled out the possibility of the union accepting a compromise.

Mr Zarb was referred to comments being made by some quarters that the union was confronting the government on the Enemalta issue as a pretext to "fight for its interests" in the upcoming cargo handling liberalisation process. The GWU owns a cargo handling company.

Mr Zarb insisted the union was focused on the Enemalta issue which had nothing to do with cargo handling.

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