(Adds Air Malta's statement)

Talks on the renewal of the collective agreement between Air Malta and the General Workers' Union have been suspended, the union said.

The union said it deplored and condemned without any reservations the vandalism act on the property of a senior official of the company pointing out that such cases should immediately be reported to the police for investigations.

However, it said it could not accept such an incident to be blamed on a member of the workers' committee and such an allegation should be withdrawn by the management.

Unless this was done, the union would have to take all the necessary action, including legal, to defend the integrity of people forming part of its delegations.

The union said that it had to halt the talks because of this allegation and as the management did not reply to its 's requests not to outsource or revert to forced redundancies.

The union also made other requests including for wage increases, which the airline had already given to other categories of workers, and other improvements.

AIR MALTA'S STATEMENT

Air Malta said that at theonset of the meeting, the GWU asked the company to declare that during the term of the new collective agreement, it would not revert to any forced redundancies or outsource any of its current functions or operations.

The GWU informed company that if these declarations were not forthcoming, it would not continue with the negotiations, Air Malta said.

The airline said htat its position during collective agreement negotiations had always been focused on increased productivity and flexibility in view of its financial situation and the various developments taking place within the industry.

Air Malta informed the GWU in previous meetings that the above mentioned declarations depended heavily on whether both sides would come to an agreement on the required flexibility of rosters and increase in productivity.

However, the GWU decided not to continue with the meeting and walked out, Air Malta said.