GWU sympathy action called off

The threat of widespread industrial action by the General Workers' Union has been lifted following meetings yesterday between the union and the government.

The GWU was to announce sympathy actions on Monday after Enemalta suspended workers and docked their pay for two days in a dispute two weeks ago.

The dispute was resolved after two consecutive meetings, the first between the GWU and the Prime Minister and the second, in the afternoon, between the union and Investments Minister Austin Gatt.

Following the meetings, the Investments Ministry, Enemalta and the GWU issued a joint declaration agreeing that whenever a dispute arose they would abide by provisions in the collective agreement and the Industrial Relations Act.

They also agreed that if action was taken in breach of the law, the party taking the action would not be afforded legal protection.

Finally, Enemalta declared it would pay the suspended workers for the period of suspension while the GWU declared it would shoulder the financial burden if it were so decided by the Industrial Tribunal, to which the dispute has been referred by the government.

The dispute revolved around a union directive to Enemalta's aviation section workers not to fill up aircraft refuelling chits in protest at what it termed as the corporation's unwillingness to meet over pending issues.

While the GWU said workers obeying a directive should never have been suspended, the government and Enemalta claimed the directive was in breach of the collective agreement and was therefore illegal.

The matter was referred to the Industrial Tribunal by the government earlier this week but the GWU on Tuesday warned that lightning strikes would be ordered on a national level to protect the sacrosanct right to strike.

Earlier yesterday, the Malta Employers' Association (MEA) informed the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development (MCESD) it would not be attending a meeting called for Monday at the request of the GWU to discuss the Enemalta dispute. (This was before the agreement had been reached.)

The association said it adopted this stand because of the formal notice of sympathy action sent to employers by the union. It said there was no point in attending the meeting unless the threat of sympathy industrial action was lifted.

The MEA also said that now that the matter has been referred to the Industrial Tribunal, there is no point in raising the issue at MCESD.