The General Workers' Union has accused the government of breaking an agreement they had struck by calling a press conference to give details about ongoing discussions over the future of Malta Shipyards.

This confirmed what the GWU was maintaining, namely that the government did not want to discuss but to impose its will, the union said.

Finance Minister Tonio Fenech on Monday briefed reporters on a meeting with the GWU in which he submitted proposals for early retirement schemes for workers at the shipyard, which is to be privatised. He said the government could not guarantee employment for those who did not sign up to the schemes.

The union yesterday accused the government of threatening shipyard workers with the loss of employment and this after having promised a few months before the election that no jobs would be lost. No serious union would agree with discussions being held under threat, the union said.

The government could not shirk its responsibility of the workers because it was the same government that had failed to implement the structure proposed in the agreement reached in 2003.

The government had to answer for the shortcomings resulting in the loss of huge sums of money by the executive management it had appointed to run the enterprise, the GWU added.

The government has still not opened an independent public investigation over the loss of €46 million on the contract for the modification of a ship. If what it was claiming was incorrect, what was holding the government from holding such an investigation so that the people would know the truth?

The government was not genuine in its aims but simply wanted to pass the 'yards on without any employees so that those buying them would offer employment under inferior conditions, the union claimed.

"If the government does not have everything planned and does not already know who will be taking over the shipyards, it should work hand in hand with the GWU through discussions and not by imposition."