The court said no union could be divested of its right to represent its members except on serious grounds. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi

A court yesterday issued an injunction against Bank of Valletta prohibiting it from negotiating with the General Workers Union on a new collective agreement for the bank’s managerial and clerical employees.

Madam Justice Lorraine Schembri Orland issued the warrant on an application filed by the Malta Union of Bank Employees.

The court heard that after the last election the GWU had asked the bank to recognise it as the union entitled to represent managerial and clerical employees.

The employees were being represented by MUBE, which had signed a collective agreement with the bank on their behalf.

According to BOV, the bank was entitled to withdraw recognition of a union if its fully paid up membership fell below 50 per cent plus of the number of employees in these categories.

The bank also claimed it was entitled to recognise the GWU as the union representing the managerial and clerical employees if the union had an absolute majority of members.

The court heard that a conciliation meeting had been held with the Director of Industrial and Employment Relations to establish which union represented the majority of bank employees, but BOV had unilaterally decided to withdraw its recognition of MUBE.

BOV had also told MUBE that the GWU had produced sufficient evidence to show that it had as members an absolute majority of managerial and clerical employees. According to the bank, it had engaged a notary as an independent verifier of this majority status.

But Madam Justice Schembri Orland said that the notary had not carried out any verification but merely served as a witness to the declarations made by the GWU.

The court added that the MUBE was not given any notice that the bank was going to verify the facts unilaterally. Neither had the bank waited for the outcome of an independent and impartial process but had taken unilateral action and awarded recognition to the GWU.

No union, said Madam Justice Schembri Orland, could be divested of its rights to represent its members except on serious grounds. The MUBE had proven that it would suffer irremediable prejudice if the warrant was not issued.

The court therefore upheld MUBE’s request for an injunction and prohibited BOV from negotiating with the GWU on a new collective agreement for managerial and clerical staff.