The Confederation of Malta Trade Unions had a change of heart in Brussels yesterday and its withdrawal of a request for a vote paved the way for the affiliation of Forum to the European Trade Union Confederation.

Earlier, a meeting was held between the CMTU and General Workers’ Union, at the request of the ETUC’s executive general secretary, John Monks, at which he proposed a way of solving a disagreement between the two, which was keeping Forum out of the European confederation.

Following the meeting, CMTU president William Portelli withdrew his insistence that a vote be taken on a proposal for Forum to become the third confederation to represent Malta on the ETUC.

No vote was taken and Forum, which represents 11 trade unions with 12,000 members, was accepted as a member with observer status until October, when, at another executive meeting, it will be officially given voting rights.

When contacted, GWU general secretary Tony Zarb said Mr Monks had proposed Forum’s affiliation and recommended that all three parties continue working towards unity.

Mr Zarb named Edward Zammit, a professor of industrial sociology and industrial relations in the Faculty of Economics, Management and Accountancy at the University of Malta, as the mediator in the on-going efforts being made to iron out the differences between the three union groupings.

Mr Zarb said it was clear that the majority of ETUC affiliates would have voted in favour of Forum’s affiliation.

He said this was a victory for Maltese workers, who now had a third confederation representing them at a European level.

The CMTU had taken a position against Forum joining the ETUC. William Portelli had explained this was so that problems between his organisation and the GWU could be solved before a third confederation came on board.

In March his organisation proposed a plan of action for better cooperation between the CMTU and the GWU, but this was rejected by the latter, which said it would only engage in discussions on cooperation between unions if the CMTU recognised Forum as a new confederation.