The General Workers' Union yesterday accused the Water Services Corporation of breaching the collective agreement by using an arbitrary system to do away with about 300 workers and transfer them to the civil service.

The union called on the workers to ignore the transfer letters they received from the corporation and to continue to report to work as usual. They were also ordered not to attend a meeting to be held for them on Friday. The union said the workers were being denied conditions they were entitled to.

It said it had nothing against the WSC carrying out a redeployment exercise and even transferring workers back to the civil service if they were not needed by the corporation but such an exercise had to be carried out within agreed parameters.

Attempts to contact the union and the Infrastructure Ministry yesterday proved unsuccessful.