GWU to meet Sea Malta workers today

The General Workers Union is expected to meet Sea Malta workers today to discuss the proposed changes to their working conditions under the new owners of the shipping line, Atlantica, secretary general Tony Zarb said yesterday.

The agreement for the sale of Sea Malta was initialled on Friday.

Investments Minister Austin Gatt has warned that if the union failed to reach a deal with Atlantica it would effectively mean the closure of Sea Malta and the workers being laid off.

The ball is now in the union's court. Local representatives for Grimaldi Group, owners of Atlantica, said there is no meeting scheduled for the time being.

Other sources said that over the past months, Grimaldi had accepted a number of conditions it was not comfortable with at first, chief among these the generous severance packages workers are afforded and also a five-year job guarantee.

Moreover, Grimaldi also accepted the current pay and general conditions.

However, there still are two bones of contention: the changes to the shift system and the possibility on Grimaldi's part to deploy workers anywhere in the world where the group operates a service.

Grimaldi sailors work on a four-months-on/four-months-off shift while Sea Malta workers alternate fortnights. Besides this problem the union wants assurance that the Maltese workers will remain based in Malta.

Mr Zarb did not comment on the matter yesterday, saying he would rather discuss the package with the workers and make public his position after the discussions.

Investments Minister Austin Gatt warned on Saturday that the government would declare the company bankrupt should the deal go to the dogs.

Since Saturday, the ministry has stopped making comments on the matter saying it was now between the union and Grimaldi. However, sources told The Times that if the company had to close down after being declared bankrupt, given its debts, the workers would not only lose their jobs but also, possibly, their severance pay.

Mr Grimaldi has left the island and the matter, from the company's side, is being dealt with by the local representatives, Sullivan Maritime. The representatives did not release any official comments at this stage.

However, sources told The Times it is highly unlikely that the group will budge on the tour of duty or on the company's discretion on the deployment of workers.

One of the company's plans for the shipping line is to have direct scheduled trips between Mediterranean ports, such as Livorno (Italy) and Valencia (Spain). Current working conditions could hamper these plans.