An exercise to determine which union should be given official recognition at the planning authority was “pointless” as this entity shall soon become history, the Union Ħaddiema Maqgħudin said yesterday.
In an injunction filed against the Director of Employment, the UĦM requested the court to halt this process, since the Malta Environment and Planning Authority was at an advanced stage of demerging in two separate entities.
At present, the UĦM enjoys recognition but a number of employees are also represented by the Union of Technical and Clerical Employees (UTAC) – an in-house union.
“This is just a manoeuvre by Mepa which is trying to hinder the UĦM from safeguarding employees’ conditions of work during the split,” the union said.
In a statement, Mepa noted that last July, UTAC had requested official recognition but the UĦM had not been forthcoming when asked how many members it represented.
As a result, the authority had no other option but to ask the director of employment to carry out such verification.