Updated: Unions in tug of war on port workers' representation
File photo - Dr George Abela speaking during the setting up of the Malta Dockers Union.
The GWU and the Malta Dockers' Union are engaged in a tug of war for recognition as the port workers' representatives, with both saying they enjoy a majority.
The GWU said this afternoon that it had written to the Maritime Authority asking to be recognised once more as the official representative of licensed port workers.
The union said the number of port workers returning to its ranks was rising consistently and it now had the backing of the majority.
A request for recognition was also made to Malta Freeport Terminals.
The union said recognition should be granted promptly in the same way as another trade union was recognised when it had majority membership.
The port workers two years ago left the GWU to form the Malta Dockers' Union.
The MDU in a statement later this afternoon insisted that it represented the majority of the port workers and was therefore the only union which could negotiate on the workers' behalf.
It said its figures were confirmed by the membership fees paid through the office of the Port Works Scheme as well as its own records.
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Louis Buhagiar
Mar 2nd 2009, 21:43
I am a port worker member of the Malta Dockers Union. After today's claim by the GWU that they enjoy the majority of the licenced port workers, I have asked the President of the Malta Dockers to show me the the figures (not the names) of the paid up members of our Union. I can confirm that from what I saw with my own eyes, the Malta Dockers Union have 88% membership from the presednt 370 licenced port workers. When the Malta Dockers Union was set up, the Union officials presented to the Registrar of Trade Unions more than 300 membership forms all signed by the workers, the same number of resignations from the GWU, all individually signed by the licenced port workers and the offical union fee receipts also signed by the new members. If the GWU really enjoys the majority of the licenced port workers, it should do what the Malta Dockers Union have done and present the relevant documents to the Registrar of Trade Unions. Until then nobody is believing the GWU's claim that it enjoys the majority of the port workers. Recognition is given on proof not on words !