A list of 120 redeployment posts for Enemalta workers has still not been made available to all staff, according to the Union Ħad­diema Magħqudin.

“Enemalta workers are still unsure about their redeployment conditions and salary. Although there is a list of available opportunities for these workers, this is in the hands of another union’s shop steward,” UĦM president Jesmond Bonello said yesterday.

Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi said on Tuesday, in reply to a parliamentary question by shadow energy minister Marthese Portelli, that the secondment list had been given to the UĦM.

Addressing the press before a second meeting with Dr Portelli at the union’s offices yesterday, Mr Bonello said the UĦM, which represented more than 400 Enemalta workers, was calling for transparency on behalf of all workers but not demanding to be part of the on­going negotiations.

A petition, initiated by UĦM and asking the government to keep its electoral promise that Enemalta workers would retain their take-home-pay, was being signed by General Workers’ Union members as well, Mr Bonello said.

Last week, the Opposition called on trade unions to meet urgently over the concerns raised by Enemalta employees.

The GWU refused the invitation but shadow labour minister Therese Comodini Cachia and Dr Portelli met the UĦM last Friday. They will be meeting the Senior Staff Union tomorrow.

Mr Bonello said the government had also been invited to send a representative for yesterday’s UĦM meeting but no one showed up. He insisted that, although workers were being told they could be transferred to other posts, they were not informed about the conditions.

“There are several questions that still need to be answered: what if they are not chosen for the post? Do they have a guaranteed take-home pay? Will people be fired? Will people be transferred to lower grades? These are questions that are normally answered when a person is informed he is being redeployed,” Mr Bonello said.

Some employees’ qualifications were not even being taken into consideration because the application forms listing their qualifications were not presented to the interviewer, he noted.

Dr Portelli said people from all sectors – the Marsa power station, BWSC, administration and generation, among others – had contacted the Opposition and the Nationalist Party could not remain silent over the lack of transparency.

She reiterated that, to date, not all employees had access to details of the secondment opportunities and when they asked the shop steward in possession of the list for a copy, they were not given any details about the posts.

In its reaction, the GWU again urged the PN to refer to it those workers who were worried about their redeployment. It said the poor attendance by Enemalta employees at the UĦM’s meeting showed how much the union and the PN were cut off from reality.

In recent weeks, the GWU said workers had left other unions, including UĦM, and then joined it.

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