(Adds governemnt reaction)

GWU general secretary Tony Zarb told dockyard workers this morning that the union did not want to disrupt the privatisation process but wanted guarantees that jobs would be safeguarded.

Speaking before hundreds of workers at Ghajn Dwieli, Mr Zarb explained that the union was not against privatisation or early retirement schemes, but it was against imposition and it would not accept any job losses.

He said the union was prepared to hold more talks with the government, as long as they constituted real consultation. The government, however, was playing with fire when it tried to impose without listening to the union.

Mr Zarb urged the workers to remain united under the umbrella of the GWU.

Earlier, former Drydocks Council chairman Sammy Meilaq told those present not to apply for any early retirement scheme before the GWU achieved better conditions for them and for those who opted to stay at the dockyard.

The Ministry of Finance in a reaction to Mr Zarb’s speech asked why the GWU was preventing those who wished to take up the retirement schemes from doing so.

The ministry explained that those who took up the voluntary schemes would be able to work again, possibly even at the shipyard itself.

The privatisation of the shipyard depended on a reduction of the workforce, and therefore, if not enough workers took up the schemes, even those who wished to stay at the shipyard would suffer.

“If the union is neither defending the interests of those who wish to stay, nor of those who wish to leave, what is the interest it is fighting for?” the government asked.