A group of former port workers staged a brief demonstration outside Castille in Valletta yesterday when they delivered a petition signed by about 500 of them calling for their share from a pension fund.

The group was led by the General Workers’ Union’s general secretary, Tony Zarb who assured them the union would not stop fighting this “sincere case against a clear injustice”.

The demonstration followed a meeting called by the GWU for the former port workers and their heirs. After the meeting, Mr Zarb, accompanied by those present, hand-delivered the petition addressed to Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi. It was received by Dr Gonzi’s personal secretary, Josephine Vassallo. The former port workers carried posters appealing for their share from the Pension and Contingency Fund.

The union, Mr Zarb explained, met Finance Minister Tonio Fenech in December asking him to look into the matter. “He promised to come back with a proposal but he never did,” Mr Zarb said when he read out the contents of letters exchanged between the union and the minister in December over this “broken promise”.

The union had also written to Dr Gonzi last month and received a reply saying Mr Fenech had never promised to come back with a counter proposal. This led Mr Zarb and other union officials to make a declaration under oath on Tuesday reiterating the minister had pledged to make a counter proposal. He challenged Mr Fenech and Dr Gonzi to make a similar sworn declaration to the contrary.

The fund used to be administered by port workers, shipping agents and the government. It was set up by law in 1974 and at one point the kitty held some €47 million.

Mr Zarb said in the past, after every reform, port workers, including those who were retired and the heirs of those who had passed away, received a lump sum payment from the fund. This time around, former port workers did not benefit despite having contributed to the fund for years.

He said it was not clear what had happened to the fund and the union did not know how much was left of it because funds were used for the latest port reform in 2007.