GWU 'walks out' of meeting with Mizzi Organisation

A meeting with the General Workers Union last Friday lasted no more than three minutes when the union decided to get up and walk out without allowing for a number of issues to be discussed, Mizzi Organisation said in reaction to being called "arrogant" and "intimidating" by the union last week.

"We barely had a chance to say anything, let alone be intimidating, since the union just got up and walked out as the meeting had just started," said Austin Walker, the Chief Operating Officer of the organisation's automotive division.

The result was that the union ordered industrial action at Mizzi Organisation's five companies on the grounds of its "negative attitude", directing workers to go slow, work to rule and not answer telephones.

The actions, which also include a total ban on overtime, follow an industrial dispute between the union and a number of car importers over the revision of a new collective agreement.

Outlining the sequence of events that led to the action at Mizzi Organisation only, Mr Walker said the Association of Car Importers has been in talks with the GWU over the collective agreement and that the last conciliation meeting with the union was held the Saturday before last.

"Then, we had agreed in principle that all parties still needed to do more work and that we would reconvene after August 15," Mr Walker said.

But a meeting on Friday regarding the removal of a previous concession on working hours that the organisation had at one of its companies - Mizzi Automotive Services Ltd - was short-lived and triggered off the action at its five companies.

Mr Walker said the concessions were "over and above the collective agreement" and the organisation had decided to remove them.

The GWU, however, refused to accept and walked out, he said.

Two weeks ago, industrial action against all car importers was called for, but at Mizzi Organisation garages the action was stepped up with a sit-in and lightning strikes, he said.

The companies that have been affected are Muscat Motors, Continental Cars, Mizzi Automotive Services, Industrial Motors and Nissan.