Shipyards dispute settled

The General Workers' Union and the Malta Shipyards have settled a dispute over foreign workers, after a meeting was held yesterday to follow up on the one held on Christmas Eve.

The meetings were held after the union declared an industrial dispute at the shipyards. At least one of the meetings was held in the presence of Director of Employment and Industrial Relations Noel Vella.

After the Christmas Eve conciliatory meeting, representatives of the GWU and the shipyards management met again yesterday to iron out the final details.

Following yesterday's meeting the union said the management had agreed to inform it whenever workers' jobs were to be terminated, as had been agreed with the Finance Ministry.

Both parties re-visited the list of workers whose employment had been terminated and any cases which were not justified were revised, the GWU said.

Last week, the GWU called on its members lay down their tools and the shipyards' work came to a standstill. It claimed that while Maltese workers who had applied for early retirement schemes were paid their severance pay and released from duty, foreign workers employed on a temporary basis were still working.

The management had said the union's actions breached both the collective agreement and another agreement reached between both sides and it was holding the union responsible for any financial damage it may sustain. It had also accused the union of disrupting the privatisation process.

The dispute erupted after the shipyards released around 148 Maltese workers who had applied for an early retirement scheme. They had been asked to stay on to work on a number of pending projects. The company retained 733 Maltese employees and 105 temporary foreigners.