Workers at open centres for asylum seekers have been instructed to call the police and walk out en masse at the first sign of intimidation.
The industrial action, announced by the General Workers’ Union yesterday, follows numerous incidents in which some workers were threatened and even physically assaulted.
Most of the incidents took place at Dar is-Sliem in Santa Venera and Dar il-Liedna in Fgura, two open centres dedicated to housing minors, said GWU Public Entities secretary Josef Bugeja.
He listed incidents in which workers had been shoved, insulted, sexually harassed and threatened.
In one incident at Dar is-Sliem, a female worker was threatened with a knife and warned that if she returned to work she would “have her head chopped off ”. She is yet to return, fearful of having to face her aggressor again.
“Workers are afraid and powerless. All the incidents have been reported to the police but nothing gets done. Police restore the peace and then leave, but then once they leave, the problems resume. Workers have a fundamental right to not feel threatened or fearful at their places of work,” Mr Bugeja said.
The union directive was being issued after multiple negotiations with the Agency for the Welfare of Asylum Seekers – the government agency which employs the open centre workers – and the Home Affairs Ministry, he added.
“But although the agency agreed on the need to have a security audit of open centres, it did not accede to workers’ request to have a police officer stationed at centres to serve as a deterrent.
GWU assistant secretary Jeremy Camilleri said: “Most residents are peaceful, not troublemakers. Unfortunately, the behaviour of a minority is endangering workers as well as other residents. It has to stop.”
The agency employs approximately 90 workers across a number of open centres.