Bus drivers who failed to turn up for work were endangering their job and that of others, the General Workers’ Union warned yesterday as it appealed for common sense.

GWU deputy general secretary Michael Parnis made it clear the union did not have an industrial dispute with the new public transport operator, Arriva, and urged all drivers to report for work.

In between phone calls from drivers and union shop stewards giving him the latest updates on the problems that dogged the Arriva service for the second day running, Mr Parnis said the transport company had accepted to change the contentious split shift roster.

“The company has accepted to pay drivers working the split shift an additional €35 per day until the roster is changed, which means that under current conditions they will be earning €70 a day. This is equivalent to what drivers used to earn before when working 16-hour shifts,” Mr Parnis said.

In a letter to the GWU seen by The Times, Arriva admitted the drivers were working “a number of unsociable shifts and roster arrangements” and pledged to change the roster by July 17.

Mr Parnis said it was “practically impossible” to change a roster of 700 people overnight and if the company missed its own deadline workers would still be paid the extra €35.

“Over a two-week period the extra payments may cost the company €175,000 and so it is in their interest to change the roster as quickly as possible,” Mr Parnis said.

The number of drivers who failed to show up yesterday totalled 56, down from the 70 on Sunday. According to Mr Parnis, the majority of those who did not turn up were former drivers or owners although a few were new drivers who were scared of operating the buses because they felt they were not trained enough.

Mr Parnis warned that drivers who failed to turn up were threatening their job and that of others.

“I appeal to them to look at things in the right way. The union is there to defend drivers and we are trying to mitigate the problems but by not turning up for work they are threatening the job of other Arriva drivers because the service may suffer from lack of patronage and the jobs of workers in other sectors of the economy.”

He defended the union from accusations that it was complacent when Arriva decided to bring over British nationals to fill in the gap created by the absent drivers. “The union does not have an industrial dispute and so the British drivers can never be considered strike breakers. According to their contract, Arriva can bring over drivers from abroad on a temporary basis to fill in the gaps. The union has no problem with this,” Mr Parnis said.

This was confirmed by Transport Malta, which said in a statement it had received a request from Arriva to temporarily employ British drivers.

Mr Parnis also denied the union did not inform drivers of the arrangement reached with Arriva on Friday. “We had an eight-hour long meeting with the company on Friday and the shop stewards were present all along. We agreed the best decision was to accept the extra payment and give Arriva the chance to change the roster,” he said.

“The day before, during a meeting for all drivers, most had objected to having a second meeting on Saturday because they would lose out on work and so we agreed to have the information disseminated through the media.”

The GWU represents about 500 workers employed by Arriva although the union does not yet have official recognition.

Mr Parnis applauded the vast majority of drivers who went to work and went out of their way to try and accommodate passengers in the difficult circumstances and called on commuters to be patient.

Asked whether the union would defend the errant drivers if they were sacked, Mr Parnis said it was the union’s job to defend workers while disciplinary proceedings were under way but insisted abuse “will not be condoned”.

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