The court confirmed that a bus strike last month was "illegal", Malta Public Transport said today.
In a statement, the company said it was well within its rights when it stopped both the General Workers' Union and Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin from striking in the interest of the general public’s right to mobility.
The court confirmed that when there is an industrial action, Article 64 of the Employment and Industrial Act must be complied with by the unions and employees, and therefore 50 per cent of the bus service must be maintained.
The court also confirmed that such a strike impacts other Maltese workers in all other economic sectors, including those that work in sectors that the law consider to be essential services.
Unions 'squabble' stopping improvements
The squabbles between the GWU and UĦM over worker representation at Malta Public Transport is stopping the company from implementing the new services and improvements to the detriment of the public, Malta Public Transport said.
The company is currently faced with three contradictory prohibitory injunctions: one prohibiting it from talking with UĦM, another one prohibiting it from to talking with GWU, and a third one prohibiting it from running a verification process to determine which union has the majority representation.
“We implore both unions to stop this fighting which is all to the detriment of the employees, public transport users and the country in general”, said Mr Julio Tironi, Director of Autobuses de Leon.
“We have not changed anything related to the working conditions for employees this year. Unfortunately for the employees, we haven’t been able to improve them, but they are definitely not worse than before. Until we have a new collective agreement, I’m afraid that they need to remain the same”, continued Mr Tironi.
He explained that the company is ready to launch new services and new routes with the current working conditions which comply with the collective agreement still in force until a new agreement is reached with whichever union has representation.
The company has done its utmost to reach an agreement with the Union, offering much better conditions and accepting practically all the parameters that the employees are requesting.
Bus action in Gozo tomorrow
The public bus service in Gozo tomorrow will face industrial action tomorrow following a directive announced by the General Workers' Union.
The GWU informed the public transport company that the new working times for its employees are much longer than those stipulated in the collective agreement.
Therefore, the GWU instructed members to desist from working more than nine and a half hours, including break.