Arriva Malta said today that the GWU's order to bus drivers to stop the bus service as from 8 p.m. ignores an agreement reached between the two sides.
The bus company said the union decision "not only ignores the agreement entered into between the two sides, but effectively contradicts and disrupts the work that Arriva and representatives of the union itself have been carrying out for the past two days, when as agreed an exercise was initiated with an aim to developing rosters that meet the union’s aspirations.
Arriva said it had done all that was agreed between the two sides when they held talks last week.
Earlier this evening, the Transport Ministry said that in terms of the law, the bus service is an essential service, and Arriva will be expected to provide at least half of the scheduled service despite the strike called by the General Workers' Union.
The company can also take disciplinary action against drivers who fail to provide a minimum service.
In its statement, the Transport Ministry said it will not go into the merits of the industrial dispute, which involves Arriva and its employees. The government's interest is to ensure that the commuters' interests are respected, even during industrial action.
The ministry recalled that as part of the public transport reform, the bus service had been designated an 'essential service' according to the industrial relations law.
In terms of the law, Arriva may take disciplinary action against drivers who refuse to provide an essential service, despite industrial action.
The ministry said it has instructed Transport Malta not to tolerate a reduction of more than half of the scheduled service.
The ministry also urged the GWU and Arriva to reach a negotiated settlement.
This is the second industrial action since the union ordered the drivers not to perform extra trips for the air show in September.
In the morning, the GWU said it had ordered Arriva bus drivers to stop the service at 8 p.m. from tomorrow amid continued disagreement with the management over rosters.
The union said current rosters are 'long and inhuman' and despite its repeated attempts and proposals, four months of talks had not yielded results.
The GWU said it remains open for further talks with Arriva.
TRANSPORT MALTA MONITORING
Meanwhile, Transport Malta said this evening that despite the inclement weather which caused tailbacks on a number of arterial roads, most of the routes being monitored performed to an acceptable level of service.
"Although gaps were noticed on Route 31 (Naxxar), 41 (Ċirkewwa), 52 (Dingli), 71 (Żurrieq) and 91 (M’Skala), no passengers were left stranded in the morning peak hours," it said.
"In view of frequent reports of below average performance on Route 41 (Ċirkewwa), Transport Malta monitored each trip, departing from Cirkewwa to Valletta between 7.30am and 10.30am, along the entire route to count the number of passengers embarking and disembarking at each bus stop. The journey time for the seven trips monitored ranged from 67 minutes to 90 minutes compared to the scheduled journey time of 80 minutes and the number of passengers boarding at Cirkewwa ranged between 1 and 25 thus providing plenty of capacity for passengers to board along the route, in particular at St Paul's Bay.
"Six of the seven trips monitored operated to schedule and one trip, the 8.20 departure from Cirkewwa, departed with a delay of 30 minutes negatively impacting the maximum waiting time along the route."
With respect to the industrial action ordered by the GWU, Transport Malta appealed to both Arriva and GWU to resolve any industrial dispute without having to resort to action which would inconvenience commuters.