Vandalism claim withdrawn

Air Malta officials have withdrawn an allegation that a member of the GWU workers' committee vandalised a car belonging to one of them, the GWU said.

The allegations were made last week during a meeting on the revision of workers' collective agreement, when the GWU delegation was informed that the car of Joe Farrugia, chief officer of ground operations, had been vandalised.

The union suspended talks and demanded a retraction.

A spokesman for Air Malta confirmed the retraction had been made but said the allegations were made in the individual capacity of some of its employees and not on behalf of the company.

In the meantime, the GWU is still waiting for replies on the two requests it has made as a condition for negotiations to continue, namely for guarantees against outsourcing by Air Malta and forced redundancies.