GRTU threatened with 'mass resignations'

The Assocjazzjoni tal-Hwienet ta' Wied il-Ghajn - the association of businessmen in Marsascala - is calling for the resignation of a councilor of the Malta Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprise (GRTU), Joe Tabone, because they claim he has a conflict of interest.

The association said it did not trust Mr Tabone to safeguard the interests of small enterprises in Marsascala because, in spite of the fact that these businesses were against the recycling plant and the aquaculture zone, he had voted in favour as a member of the Malta Environment and Planning Authority board.

This issue has not yet been discussed by the GRTU council, Reuben Buttigieg, association president and GRTU council member said, adding that the association would give the union up to Friday to do so. If this call is not met, then it would lobby for an extraordinary meeting.

If the GRTU's position remained unchanged, businessmen from other areas, who were showing their support, were prepared to resign en masse from the GRTU, Mr Buttigieg said. The association and the GRTU had appealed Mepa's decision on the aquaculture zone, meaning that Mr Tabone, as a GRTU official, was appealing a decision he was actually involved in taking.

The GRTU council had the right to fire any member who acted against its interests, Mr Buttigieg pointed out, adding that Mr Tabone had gone against the position adopted by the GRTU.

"He cannot expect us to trust him," he said, stressing that Mr Tabone was not representing the commercial sector of the area.

The south of Malta was going through a difficult time and its businessmen needed an organisation they could trust, he said.

"We demand that the council be made up of those members who are trusted by businessmen from all areas of Malta."

Mr Buttigieg appealed to GRTU president Paul Abela to resolve this "embarrassing situation" for the union. Until Mr Tabone remained a member of the council, the GRTU could not say it was representing the business of the south, he insisted.

Efforts to contact Mr Tabone for comment yesterday were unsuccessful.