GWU secretary general's statements raise concern

General Workers' Union port workers members are concerned about statements, made by general secretary Tony Zarb, that from now on nobody would be allowed to work outside the union's structures or to use the services of those who are not within the union.

Mr Zarb made the statements during a council meeting last week in which Josephine Attard Sultana and Francis Buttigieg, section secretary and president of the public service section, respectively, were sacked after the GWU's council approved a motion for their dismissal.

The motion was tabled by the union administration after the two officials filed a court case to stop the administration from breaching the union's statute and calling a meeting of their section. The court upheld their plea and stopped the meeting but the union administration called a council meeting and sacked them.

Ms Attard Sultana and members of the executive committee filed a court case on the matter last week and, as the case was filed by former GWU legal adviser George Abela, it is not clear whether the administration would also seek their dismissal.

Port workers are seeing a lot of parallels with the recent dismissal case since they had roped in the services of Dr Abela for their discussions with the government's negotiating team on port reform.

Dr Abela had been kicked out by the union administration because he openly declared that he would not file court cases that he did not believe in.

Port workers have always used the services of Dr Abela but when last May they requested him to address them about the legal implications of the proposed port reform, they were informed they could not meet at the GWU headquarters.

They then held a meeting at a parish hall in Qormi. During that meeting, the port workers unanimously approved a strongly-worded resolution condemning Mr Zarb's decision and the union's administration for not allowing them to hold a meeting at union headquarters.

Over 300 port workers had approved the resolution deploring a letter Mr Zarb had sent to all port workers in which he attacked the section secretary and their representatives. They had also appealed to the administration to change its position and respect and support the port workers' interests.

On its part, the union administration had shifted the blame on port workers, accusing them of creating a polemic. The administration had also used similar words in last week's council meeting and said it had been "democratically elected to lead the union and no one could expect not to abide by the union's rules.

"We will not allow anyone to create anarchy and will continue to make decisions according to the mandate given to us by the national council," the administration said.

Port workers had warned that if the administration persisted in its decision not to allow Dr Abela to represent them, they would consider their position within the GWU.

The matter is now expected to come to a head early in September, when meetings with the port reform negotiating team are set to continue.

In the meantime, a number of GWU repre-sentatives at Air Malta, who had also used the services of Dr Abela in the negotiations of their collective agreement, are also considering their position within the union. These too have been hurt by the union's attacks against Dr Abela.

Foreign unions, some of which have followed the issue on online newspapers, will be officially informed of the way the two union officials were ousted.

In the meantime, there is a lot of expectation about whose head will roll next at union headquarters.

Emanuel Zammit, the port workers section secretary, and Karmenu Vella, the media and services section secretary, had been singled out alongside Ms Attard Sultana in an anonymous leaflet distributed when Emanuel Micallef was ousted from the GWU in October's national congress.

The leaflet said the three belonged to Mr Micallef's clique and were no longer wanted within the GWU.

Sources told The Sunday Times that Ms Attard Sultana's abrupt removal from the GWU contrasted sharply with what Mr Zarb had negotiated for himself when he was about to be overthrown in an internal revolt in 2003.

Mr Zarb had first accepted to resign but, following a council meeting, had traded his resignation with a set of costly conditions, which included remaining on the union's payroll until he is 61. He had also accepted to remain general secretary until October 2005 on condition that a general secretary designate would be appointed and that the designate would be appointed in his stead.

Mr Zarb had also demanded that he would remain a co-opted member on the union's national council, in all the union's general conferences and congresses until retiring age and to retain the right to continue travelling to participate in conferences and seminars dealing with union matters.

But all this was later thrown to the wind as Mr Zarb ended up contesting the post of secretary-general again last October.