Government, GWU, to resume shipyard talks

Finance Minister Tonio Fenech is to meet a GWU delegation this afternoon at a meeting called at short notice following a GWU request.

Informed sources said the meeting was requested after the government indicated that the early retirement schemes for Malta Shipyards employees would be issued tomorrow.

GWU general secretary Tony Zarb told shipyard workers yesterday that the union was prepared to resume talks with the government - after they ended abruptly in disagreement last Friday.

The union is insisting that the schemes should not be issued before the buyer of Malta Shipyards and its plans are known. It has also called for job guarantees for the workers who do not take up the schemes.