Representatives of the General Workers’ Union yesterday met Arriva officials to discuss a way forward to ensure bus drivers do not work more than one split shift a week.

On Monday union general secretary Tony Zarb said he had issued directives to drivers not to work more than one split shift a week, in line with their contract.

The union gave Arriva until tomorrow to ensure the split shift limit is not exceeded. If a solution is not reached by then, workers will be instructed not to work split shifts.

While the details of the directive still had to be ironed out, Mr Zarb said yesterday, he assured the public that the union’s aim was to find a solution and not cause chaos.

He ruled out any directives not to turn up for work, which would cause another major disruption in the public transport system that should be running smoothly by Sunday, a deadline set by Arriva.

A no-show by some 180 drivers had led to a chaotic start to the new public transport system in July. Most drivers did not turn up because they were objecting to their rosters and split shifts.

Following this debacle, the union entered negotiations with Arriva and it was agreed workers would not work more than one split shift a week. But, Mr Zarb said, there were cases of people who had three.

An Arriva spokesman said: “Arriva undertook that a complete revised set of duties with any subsequent roster changes would be implemented by no later than July 31 based on the existing Transport Malta contract requirements and including, as one criteria, no more than one spread-over in any scheduled working week.

“The new duties and rosters, which were implemented in advance of the date referred to above, were reviewed and agreed with the GWU at the time, and have now been in operation, in line with agreement, for five weeks.”