Government knows what's wrong - GWU

General Workers' Union delegates at Malta Shipyards said yesterday it was not true the government did not know why matters at the 'yards had deteriorated in the past three years.

Coming in response to a comment made by the Prime Minister on Bondiplus on Monday, the GWU's delegates said in a resolution approved yesterday that the union had invited the government several times to visit the shipyards to see the bad way in which they were being managed.

The union said it was convinced the shipyards' viability rested on a better utilisation of the company's capital and its labour force and would not change its stance until it has been proven otherwise.

The delegates reaffirmed their appreciation and support for the Labour Party's proposal to reopen discussions on the shipyards with the EU. On this point, in fact, the union's section secretary Paul Buttigieg said the shipyard workers now have the opportunity to choose between those who are ready to renegotiate with the EU and develop on the good that has been achieved and those who are insistent on "condemning the yards to close down after 2008".