The bankers’ union was “stronger than ever” and any talk of a split came from two members who were expelled, union president William Portelli said yesterday.
Days after winning a vote of confidence by an overwhelming majority, Mr Portelli stressed the Malta Union of Bank Employees was and would continue “pushing the agenda in favour of its members”.
“The council was always united and confirmed it by showing their full support in me as president and in the union’s administration on more than one occasion and more recently by members at an extra-ordinary general meeting,” Mr Portelli told this newspaper.
The MUBE extraordinary meeting was originally scheduled for early December but had to be held earlier this week following an injunction filed by Mark Muscat, one of two union members expelled by the council. However, he failed to follow up his action, rendering the injunction null.
The vote taken confirmed overwhelmingly a motion proposing confidence in the officials, namely Mr Portelli and the MUBE-HSBC Group Committee while showing support for and confirming the council’s decision to expel the two members from the union.
A spokesman for the MUBE expressed disappointment that the union’s valid work had been portrayed negatively by an individual who appeared to have a personal agenda.
Instead of focusing on what mattered, over the past months, Mr Muscat had regularly divulged what could only be described as misleading information through social media with the intention of tarnishing the reputation of the union president and other officials, he said.
The MUBE regretted the manner in which the former member, who had in the past received valuable representation from the union, saw fit to make highly inaccurate allegations and exaggerated claims, both in court and outside it.
It was particularly disappointing that media coverage had been given to this individual’s allegations without the views of people personally mentioned in the coverage being sought, he continued.
“We will now be dedicating our time to our real work instead of having to tackle issues that divert our resources needlessly,” the spokesman added.
Mr Muscat told the Times of Malta earlier this week that preparations to set up a new union for bank employees were well ad-vanced and that they would be in a position to announce the new formation in the coming weeks.