'Agreement meets aims of port reform'
The agreement with port workers announced last week will go a long way towards meeting the objectives of the port reform, Communications Minister Censu Galea has said.The workers, members of the Malta Dockers' Union, ratified the agreement last week...
The agreement with port workers announced last week will go a long way towards meeting the objectives of the port reform, Communications Minister Censu Galea has said.
The workers, members of the Malta Dockers' Union, ratified the agreement last week but details have not been published yet.
Mr Galea said port reform was not about replacing the cargo operator but about introducing more efficient procedures in cargo handling and introducing new work practices which would translate into lower costs for business.
He said lower costs could take two forms. The first was a direct reduction in costs while the second was efficiency gains.
"Removing double handling costs and cutting down on the time one has containers doing nothing in Hal Far are also gains for business."
"Of course, industry's biggest complaint has been about what they pay the port workers but we have also sought efficiency gains.
"I cannot say much for now since the agreement has not been made public yet, but there are significant cost reductions and I view the agreement as meeting the purposes for which the reform was launched," the minister said.
Mr Galea said some details of the agreement were still being ironed out, notably with regard to the conditions of the foremen of the port workers.
He said the agreement would streamline the costs structure for port work services. The agreement establishes the number of port workers and while children of port workers would continue to have the right to work at the ports, they may also be joined by others and a number of workers may work on temporary basis according to requirements.
It will also become possible for the port workers' employers to speak directly to either of the port operators at Grand Harbour and Malta Freeport.
He said that with the exception of three days (such as Christmas) port services had to be available continuously to ensure that ships spent as little time as possible in harbour.
Mr Galea said the agreement would come into force within days.
Joe Saliba, who heads the dockers' union, said the agreement met the aims of both the union and the government and would yield big savings for industry. "What the government used to say about reduced savings for industry can now be achieved, while workers' conditions have been safeguarded," he said.
The workers, members of the Malta Dockers' Union, ratified the agreement last week but details have not been published yet.
Mr Galea said port reform was not about replacing the cargo operator but about introducing more efficient procedures in cargo handling and introducing new work practices which would translate into lower costs for business.
He said lower costs could take two forms. The first was a direct reduction in costs while the second was efficiency gains.
"Removing double handling costs and cutting down on the time one has containers doing nothing in Hal Far are also gains for business."
"Of course, industry's biggest complaint has been about what they pay the port workers but we have also sought efficiency gains.
"I cannot say much for now since the agreement has not been made public yet, but there are significant cost reductions and I view the agreement as meeting the purposes for which the reform was launched," the minister said.
Mr Galea said some details of the agreement were still being ironed out, notably with regard to the conditions of the foremen of the port workers.
He said the agreement would streamline the costs structure for port work services. The agreement establishes the number of port workers and while children of port workers would continue to have the right to work at the ports, they may also be joined by others and a number of workers may work on temporary basis according to requirements.
It will also become possible for the port workers' employers to speak directly to either of the port operators at Grand Harbour and Malta Freeport.
He said that with the exception of three days (such as Christmas) port services had to be available continuously to ensure that ships spent as little time as possible in harbour.
Mr Galea said the agreement would come into force within days.
Joe Saliba, who heads the dockers' union, said the agreement met the aims of both the union and the government and would yield big savings for industry. "What the government used to say about reduced savings for industry can now be achieved, while workers' conditions have been safeguarded," he said.