Alternattiva Demokratika has welcomed the agreement reached between the government and the General Workers' Union on the shipyards' privatisation, insisting that round table discussions are the only lasting solution.

Following three weeks of mediated negotiations, the government and the GWU made a joint statement on Friday saying that an agreement had been reached and both sides were committed to an efficient privatisation process.

According to the new agreement, funds made available for early retirement being offered to the workers will rise by €9 million to €58 million.

The government also agreed to implement a series of safeguards for the workers who choose not to take the schemes and to try negotiating an employment guarantee for a so-far-undefined number of years with the prospective new buyer of the 'yards.

The Greens, along with the left-wing group Moviment Graffitti, greeted the news positively.

AD chairman Arnold Cassola said: "The only way forward was for the GWU and government to engage in discussions about the future of the drydocks. No worker is disposable and it is in the interests of workers and the country that, after years of neglect, the shipyards issue is resolved once and for all."

Although Moviment Graffitti remains critical of the decision to privatise the shipyards, it too is satisfied that the agreement deals with the negative impact on the workers.

A spokesman for the movement said this remains a difficult and uncertain period for dockyard workers, and urged the government to ensure that the privatisation process is carried out in a serious and transparent way.

Even the Campaign for National Independence (CNi) commented on the development, suggesting that on the basis of the agreement now in place between the union and the government, the option of letting workers take over the 'yards through a cooperative should be considered more closely.

If the shipyards are sold wholesale to a foreign buyer, Malta would again have a foreign maritime base, turning the clock back to the islands' colonial past. In its statement the CNi said it believed that the 'yards should go to the workers, structured into a cooperative, which could then co-manage with a foreign strategic partner.

The 'yards would no longer be a burden on taxpayers, which means that there should not be any objections, the statement said, adding that the 'yards would achieve maximum productivity with the workers employing themselves.

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