Cordial talks on shipyards' future

Finance Minster Tonio Fenech and the general secretary of the General Workers' Union, Tony Zarb yesterday met for two hours to discuss the future of Malta Shipyards' employees in the wake of the government's decision to privatise the company.

Emerging from the meeting, held at the Finance Ministry in Valletta, Mr Fenech described the outcome as "cordial" adding that the government had expressed how it believed the privatisation process should be managed and the union voiced its concerns.

"We will continue with discussions with the aim of ensuring that the privatisation will take into account the interest of the nation and the workers," he said.

Mr Zarb said that during the meeting both sides had listened to each other and would now continue talks.

During their brief comments to the media, both said that no date had been set for the next meeting because both sides had to look into certain issues before meeting again.

The government announced last week that Malta Shipyards will be privatised and rejected a proposal by the GWU for the creation of a task force to discuss the future of the shipyards. The government then invited union representatives to discuss the matter.