Executive members resign

The executive committee of the General Workers' Union's maritime and aviation section, including secretary Emmanuel Zammit, resigned en mass from the union yesterday morning.

The resignation follows the dismissal of Josephine Attard Sultana, the former GWU public service section secretary, who was unceremoniously sacked earlier this month along with section president Francis Buttigieg. Seven members of the public service executive had also resigned in support of Ms Attard Sultana.

Mr Zammit and other members of the executive committee, which included Ray Arpa - a high profile union member at Air Malta - handed their resignations to GWU president Salv Sammut at about 10.30 a.m.

They claimed they could not continue working in an atmosphere where the union's administration undermined the section's work and autonomy.

Mr Zammit said he had decided to quit the union due to "impossible circumstances".

In a statement thanking workers for their support and expressing discontent for having had to quit the GWU, he said he had been facing hell.

Mr Arpa, who has been in the GWU since 1975 and was active in its committees since 1983, spending about 14 years as a worker director at Air Malta, said resigning was his only option.

Almost a year after contesting the post of union president and losing to Mr Sammut at the October 2005 GWU congress, Mr Arpa told The Times he was tendering his resignation to express solidarity with Mr Zammit.

The GWU confirmed it had received resignation letters in an initial statement, denying that the central administration "had any tiff with officials from the maritime and aviation section".

In a second statement replying to the statements issued by Mr Zammit, the union claimed it had been receiving a number of complaints against the former section secretary.

"Instead of taking action about the complaints, Mr Zammit increased his antagonism against the administration and is now portraying himself as the victim," the GWU said, denying that the administration had pressured Mr Zammit in any way.

Last week, the majority of port workers' foremen left the GWU and joined the Union Haddiema Maghqudin, saying they had not lost faith in Mr Zammit but had decided to leave because they had no backing from the union administration. They complained that they had been writing to the GWU general secretary Tony Zarb, seeking assurances that all foremen would be treated equally when it came to distribution of work, but he kept referring them to their section secretary.

The port workers, who have been represented by former GWU legal adviser George Abela and Mr Zammit, are expected to meet this afternoon in Qormi - at the same venue where they had met when the union administration had prevented them from meeting at the Workers' Memorial Building, in Valletta.

Chronology of a resignation

October 2005
The split between the union's moderates and the militants comes out in the open in the run up to the GWU congress. Flyers dispersed in the car park outside the Radisson Golden Sands where the congress is taking place, attack Mr Zammit, media and services section secretary Karmenu Vella, and former public services section secretary Josephine Attard Sultana, dubbing them as belonging to the "clique" of Emmanuel Micallef, who was then deputy general secretary.

February 2006
In the midst of negotiations on new work practices at the harbour, port workers say they want to be represented by Mr Zammit and the former deputy leader of the Malta Labour Party, George Abela, who had been the GWU's legal advisor before being dismissed by the union's council following a row with GWU general secretary Tony Zarb. Dr Abela had to leave after refusing to file court cases in which he did not believe. The port workers' request so that Dr Abela should conduct negotiations alongside Mr Zammit irked the union's administration, which opposed Dr Abela's involvement in the issue.

May 2006
The GWU administration prevents port workers from meeting at the Workers' Memorial Building, the union's headquarters.

Instead, 300 port workers, briefed by Dr Abela, met at a parish hall in Qormi, strongly condemning the administration for not allowing them to hold a meeting at union headquarters. They deplored a letter Mr Zarb had sent to all port workers attacking Mr Zammit and their representatives.

August 2006
The majority of port workers' foremen leave the GWU and joined the Union Haddiema Maghqudin. In the port reform talks, the workers' foremen were being represented by the GWU section secretary Emanuel Zammit and lawyer Victor Scerri, who is also the president of the Nationalist Party. The foremen say they decided to leave the GWU not because they had lost confidence in Mr Zammit but because they realised they had no backing from the union administration.