Roche protest

About 300 of the 500 employees of the Milan branch of pharmaceutical giant Roche, who were in Malta for a three-day conference, last Thursday walked out of the plenary session in protest, complaining about their work conditions and the fact that the company had shed many jobs in recent months.

Roche is the world's leading supplier of prescription drugs for cancer treatment. The employees said they had been trying to read out a statement on the difficult times they were facing but the management would not have it and so they decided to walk out.