Transport Minister Joe Mizzi and Transport Malta chairman James Piscopo held separate meetings today with the General Workers Union and Malta Public Transport in an effort to resolve a dispute which led to a six-hour bus strike today.
The strike saw services reduced by half.
No breakthrough was reported in the talks.
Transport Malta said efforts to organise a meeting between the two sides yesterday and avoid the strike had not materialised.
The authority regretted the inconvenience which the strike caused and called on both sides to settle the issue.
The dispute started last month when the GWU said deductions had been made from some workers' pay. MPT said the drivers had not worked the hours they were contracted for.
The GWU said yesterday the money had still not been refunded. MPT denied the claim, saying the money had been refunded in terms on an agreement reached with the GWU at the end of April. It warned, however, that it would back out of the agreement if industrial action continued.
At the Valletta bus terminus, tempers flared this afternoon and a number of drivers and other employees of Malta Public Transport came to blows.
Witnesses said the incident happened at about 4.15pm as the afternoon part of the strike started.
The witnesses said a company official who is not a driver and was not on duty today started arguing with the strikers. They came to blows and a driver, Raymond Abela, intervened to try to calm things down. He ended up suffering several blows around his head and was seen bleeding from his nose.
His injuries were not serious.
UHM REACTION
The UHM in a reaction, condemned the incident but claimed it happened when a driver who is a member of the GWU attacked another driver who is in the UHM. It condemned efforts by a GWU to inflate the incident and said workers should be free to make their choices.
SERVICE BACK TO NORMAL TOMORROW
Malta Public Transport said the bus service will return to normal tomorrow, Friday.
The company thanked its employees for their efforts and cooperation to provide an 'acceptable service' to its customers.
It apologised to the public for the inconvenience that the strike action may have caused.