The European Trade Union Council is urging the General Workers' Union to move its dispute regarding trade union recognition at Malta Freeport before the International Labour Organisation.

The GWU is in dispute with the Malta Dockers' Union on trade union recognition at the Freeport and a court last week granted a freeport request for the issue of a €1m garnishee order against the GWU after it ordered a go-slow and work to rule.

In a statement this afternoon, the GWU said its international secretary, Michael Parnis, was in Brussels keeping the ETUC informed of developments. The ETUC, which represents some eight million workers in Europe, promised its support and said it would be writing to Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and EU figures informing them what was happening in Malta. It urged the union to move the case to the ILO.

The union said it had also won the support of the biggest union in Italy - CGIL. CGIL Campagna and CGIL Piemonte general secretaries Michele Gravano and Vincenzo Scudiere, respectively, sent a joint letter to Dr Gonzi this morning expressing their solidarity with the GWU and disapproving of the way it was being treated.

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