I refer to the article ‘Inspector was seconded to unregistered police union’, (The Sunday Times of Malta, November 15).
The General Workers’ Union regrets that The Sunday Times of Malta chose to publish a story without verifying the information obtained.
The story is built on assumptions passed on by third parties, who clearly do not know the facts, or worse, distorted the facts.
The story is inaccurate when it refers to Inspector Sandro Camilleri being seconded to the Police Officers’ Union. With the change in the law – which allows members of disciplined corps to join a trade union of their choice – members of the police force are now eligible to be seconded to the union they are members of. The GWU is fully entitled to have personnel seconded from the public service.
Therefore Camilleri was seconded directly to the GWU.
Regarding the registration of the Police Officers’ Union of the GWU, it should be noted that this was done in March. The period taken to confirm this registration was linked to a technical review conducted by the Department of Industrial Relations. So there was no alleged attempt, as the report subtly suggests, that the Police Officers’ Union was registered, in haste, before the registration of any other police union.
At the same time, the GWU strongly denies the allegation that the office of the Commissioner of Police distributed any Police Officers’ Union membership forms.
For these reasons the GWU believes that the story was intended to create doubts about the GWU and the Police Officers’ Union, and to try to hinder the work that both organisations are doing for the benefit of the members of the police force.
Similar stories will not prevent the GWU from continuing with its work for the benefit of its members.
Editorial note: The GWU states that its Police Officers’ Union (POU) was registered in March and that the period taken to confirm this registration was linked to a technical review conducted by the Department of Industrial Relations. According to Sandra Gatt, director of Industrial and Employment Relations, the GWU-POU was registered on November 2, and had 756 members.