Workers at ST Microelectronics held a one hour stoppage this morning to protest over the company's insistence on keeping austerity measures in place even though its financial situation has improved.

The stoppage was called at 6am. The union said this evening its members obeyed the directive.

The General Workers' Union last week warned of industrial action after talks on a new collective agreement collapsed.

The union said several meetings had been held, some of them in the presence of the Director of Industrial Relations, but the company was insisting that austerity measures which should have ended in 2012 should remain in place.

The austerity measures were introduced in 2010, when the company was going through difficulties. The measures, including a reduction in pay packets, had been aimed at allowing a breathing space for the company to recover, as had happened.

The union said the measures were supposed to have been lifted in 2012 but the company was coming up with all sorts of reasons to avoid a new collective agreement.

It said the company had even refused to honour the collective agreement which was in place before the austerity measures were introduced.

ST is Malta's biggest exporter. It employs 1,600 workers.