The General Workers’ Union is disputing that it lost the representation of Freeport workers in a vote held yesterday.

GWU general secretary Josef Bugeja told a press conference today that although the Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin had claimed electoral victory, this did not conform to an industrial agreement previously signed.

The UHM yesterday claimed to have won a 52 per cent majority over the GWU, with 275 votes over 254.

Mr Bugeja, however, is insisting that according to an agreement reached between the Freeport, the government and both unions last year, representation of the workers could only be obtained with 50 per cent plus one vote of the “general workforce” and not exclusively of those workers enrolled in a union.

He said a count of the workforce at the Freeport last month totalled 607 workers, so to win representation a union would have to garner 305 votes.

“I was surprised to hear the UHM claim to have won when it clearly hadn’t. The vote was inconclusive, the status quo must remain so the GWU is still the representative of Freeport workers,” Mr Bugeja said.

Asked what action the union would take if the election result was taken as valid, Mr Bugeja said he would rule nothing out.