Industrial action would be taken at ST Microelectronics until the company reached an agreement on workers’ pay, the General Workers’ Union warned yesterday.
Employees yesterday held two two-hour stoppages, walking out between 6am and 8am and again between 6pm and 8pm.
Addressing hundreds of employees outside the ST plant in Kirkop early yesterday evening, GWU general secretary Tony Zarb challenged the French company’s top officials to face the union directly around the negotiating table.
Mr Zarb said the union had received word that the deputy chief executive was ready to travel to Malta in the middle of September to discuss the issue. The union, however, deemed this a delaying tactic and urged him to head to Malta much sooner.
Austerity measures were introduced back in 2010 when the company was going through difficulties. The measures implemented then, the union insisted, should have been lifted in 2012 but the company persisted in keeping them in place.
In July, the French headquarters sent a representative to negotiate the collective agreement with the union.
The representative said he would give the necessary direction for the talks to continue but, in reality, he had no negotiating power, Mr Zarb said.
One of Malta’s leading exporters, employing about 1,600 people, ST Microelectronics posted a loss of €23 million last year, a dramatic result for a company that had reported a profit of €145 million in 2011.
However, Mr Zarb insisted the company’s financial situation was not as precarious as people were led to believe.
“We have seen the company’s own report and it is projecting a growth by the third and fourth quarters of this year.
“Additionally, the salary rise we are requesting is not much; it won’t break the bank,” he continued.
Changes in shift allowances and sick leave were part of the austerity measures that had been introduced in 2010. Mr Zarb said the GWU had agreed with the company to lift most of the austerity measures and the bone of contention remained the employees’ financial package.
“The workers have made a lot of sacrifices and, as a result, the company is moving forward. However, you can’t move ahead when you fail to strengthen your employees, who are the ones propelling the company forward.”
He urged the workers to put their trust in the union and to keep following the directives it issued. He cautioned that no worker should take the law into his hands.
“We urge the Maltese management to inform us of what they are feeding the headquarters and we ask the foreign management to meet us directly. Negotiations won’t take more than 45 minutes if the will is there.”
The union would keep issuing directives for as long as an agreement was not reached, Mr Zarb warned.
He would not commit as to what directives would be issued in the coming days but said the union “was not excluding anything”.