Yard workers 'guilty' but back at work

A disciplinary board at Malta Shipyards has ruled that six of the seven workers who had been suspended at the end of January were guilty of sleeping on duty.

The workers, who were allowed to return to work yesterday morning pending a possible appeal, will be punished by suspension without pay for a number of days. They have five days to appeal.

In the case of the seventh worker, the board needs more evidence before it can pass judgment, shipyards chairman John Cassar White said yesterday.

Speaking to The Times, the chairman said the workers had not denied the charges when they appeared before the disciplinary board, which came to its conclusion after a marathon session last Friday.

The shipyard announced the decision yesterday morning after informing the workers in question.

The General Workers' Union, which deemed the suspensions illegal, had warned it would step up action at the 'yards if the workers were not allowed to return to work by yesterday.

Public Investments Minister Austin Gatt had then countered that suspending workers in such cases was the management's prerogative and perfectly in line with the collective agreement. After 50 workers downed tools last week to stage a sympathy protest, the minister warned that workers taking part in illegal stoppages would be sacked immediately.

Yesterday evening the shipyards' management and the GWU gave a conflicting account of the outcome of a conciliation meeting chaired in the morning by Director of Labour Noel Vella.

The union said the shipyards had accepted the metal and construction section's request to reinstate the workers.

GWU metal and construction section secretary Charles Agius said the management had also agreed to discuss changes to the disciplinary code in the collective agreement.

But Mr Cassar White denied that the management's decision to allow workers to return to work had come about after pressure from the union.

There was no connection between the conciliation meeting and the decision to reinstate the workers, he said.

"The workers were informed they could return to work at 7 a.m. today (yesterday) when they were also told of the board's decision. That was five hours before the conciliation meeting started.

"By then, the disciplinary board had established the facts and there was no more reason to keep the workers in suspension," he said.

Mr Cassar White also denied that the management would sit with the union to change disciplinary procedures.

"The rules will not be changed. At no point during the meeting did the management accept that the workers' suspension had been arbitrary.

"It was, is, and will remain the management's prerogative to suspend workers in such serious cases. A meeting will be held to explain procedures already in place," Mr Cassar White insisted.

Responding to Dr Gatt's claims that "shipyard workers were no longer owed a living" and that the government would not tolerate "1970s' and 1980s' style" threats, the GWU said the minister did not miss an opportunity to hit out at the union.

It claimed an internal issue should not have been tackled by the minister, hinting that Dr Gatt had tried to gain political mileage. The shipyards' management replied that it was duty bound to inform the government when it felt threatened with illegal actions.

"If the GWU tries to justify any such undisciplined behaviour by word or action, it will be endangering the jobs of well-behaved workers," the shipyards' management said.