The General Workers' Union will continue to insist that a proper inquiry take place into the "Fairmount scandal" that had cost the country €80 million, general secretary Tony Zarb said.

Mr Zarb said people had the right to know who was responsible for the failure and why no action had yet been taken. He said the amount was lost because of wrong costing by the Shipyards management.

Addressing the annual conference of the union's Metal and Construction Section, Mr Zarb said that since the contract had been executed, the government should publish it. He again asked Opposition Leader Joseph Muscat to raise the issue in Parliament.

The Infrastructure Ministry had rubbished the GWU's call for an inquiry, pointing out that there was an ongoing investigation.

It said it was awaiting the investigation's results before proceeding, adding that any attacks made before the results were out were only being made to tarnish people's reputations.

But Mr Zarb reacted to this saying that the government had to shoulder the political responsibility for this contract that had gone wrong.

He said the GWU would continue to defend the workers' interests, despite the fact that this was a very difficult time to do so in view of the prevailing financial crisis. He said workers felt their employment was threatened while others were being forced to accept inferior working conditions.