Freeport advises workers of strike action consequences

Freeport workers were told by management that the "illegal" industrial action called by the General Workers' Union was jeopardising their jobs by worsening the effects of the global financial crisis.

Human resources director Duncan Borg Myatt told workers in a letter the industrial action was putting the workers' and their families' wellbeing at risk because the company was also feeling the negative effects of the global downturn.

He said the company's targets would not be reached if the industrial action were to continue.

The management would not comment further when contacted yesterday but Freeport sources said the actions could cost the terminal more than the previously estimated €1million.

The directives issued by the GWU mean that certain vessels, particularly, the larger ships carrying over 8,000 containers, are being delayed at times, triggering hefty damages claims by clients.

"You have to consider that ships are being given windows in other ports; if a ship is delayed here it means it could miss its window in another port and lose more time until it is slotted in elsewhere... the costs of these traders are calculated in hours," shipping industry sources said.

The union has disputed the estimates and even asked the police to take criminal action against the ports management for lying under oath when they claimed the actions cost €1 million.

The GWU said yesterday action would be stepped up, adding that it was in talks with a number of European and international trade unions to organise a widespread boycott in foreign ports against the international company that owns the Malta Freeport, CMA CGM.

The GWU's dispute with the Freeport came as a result of an ongoing battle for recognition with the Malta Dockers' Union. The GWU had ordered industrial action at the Freeport because of the dispute, leading the Freeport to react by holding it responsible with a court-issued garnishee order of €1 million.

When pressed to give the names of the unions that would support the boycott, the GWU said it would only release them once the arrangements were finalised.

"The international support the GWU is finding from trade unions is growing every day. These unions are viewing the granting of the garnishee order as a serious threat to the existence of trade unions even when they take limited industrial action," the GWU said.

The GWU on Tuesday accused the Freeport of having abusively suspended three of its members for obeying the industrial action, a claim rebutted by the Freeport.

The Freeport said yesterday the three had been suspended for parking their trucks near a particular gate and not in the established area, according to company procedures.

It was the norm at Malta Freeport that when procedures were breached, the workers concerned would be suspended. Indeed, there were other employees who were suspended for breaching procedures and regulations, it said.

The Freeport added that one of the three workers indicated by the GWU would be returning to work tomorrow after admitting in a letter to the company that he had left the truck near the gate out of carelessness. The company said other allegations made against it by the GWU had to be proved in court.

Meanwhile, the 12 unions within the Għaqda Unions Maltin expressed concern at the ongoing recognition dispute, saying this did not augur well to industrial democracy in Malta.

The unions said that in issues of trade union recognition, there should be a transparent process with which the unions should be satisfied and which should not instil doubts on who really enjoyed majority support.

They also expressed concern that the weapon of freezing a union's assets was being used when an industrial dispute was in progress. This had also been the case in 1997, when another union had taken action against the Freeport. Such behaviour completely undermined a union's work and the action was a polite form of abolishing free trade unionism, they commented.