The Malta Freeport is waiting for the General Workers' Union to take the first step and withdraw its directives before it considers retracting or reducing its garnishee order.
But for GWU general secretary Tony Zarb this is not enough. The union is insisting the Freeport fully retracts, not reduces, the €1 million garnishee order it obtained from the courts to cover the expenses it incurred as a result of the union's go-slow and work-to-rule directives.
Speaking at a political activity on Sunday, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said the Freeport's management was prepared to enter talks over the issue of union recognition if the GWU lifted its "irresponsible" industrial action that was threatening jobs and the economy.
Mr Zarb later told The Times the union would have discussions only if the Freeport withdrew the garnishee order and reinstated suspended workers.
Sources close to the Freeport management told The Times yesterday the company would only act if the union withdrew all its directives. In return, the company would retract or reduce the garnishee order.
Reacting to this, Mr Zarb said it was "obvious" that if the union withdrew its directives, the company should fully withdraw its garnishee order. Moreover, he said there was also the issue related to the three workers who were suspended for obeying the directives.
However, the Freeport maintained that the suspensions had nothing to do with the industrial action. The sources said the three workers were suspended for breaching internal policies.
The sources explained that one of the three workers apologised for his wrongdoing and was reinstated. The other two had not yet admitted their mistake but were due to return to work after serving their seven-day suspension.
The sources said one of the two who were still suspended was the GWU's shop steward. The other worker, and also the worker who admitted his mistake, were members of the Malta Dockers' Union and had not been obeying any of the directives issued by the GWU.
The sources explained that truck drivers had four zones where to park their vehicles during the shift changeover. When their shift was coming to an end, they received a message on their cabin screen instructing them to park their trucks in one of these four zones.
However, according to the Freeport sources, these workers parked their trucks close to the Freeport gate - where trucks should not go anyway - signed out and went home.
The GWU's industrial action is over the fact that the Freeport granted recognition to the MDU following a verification of its support from the majority of workers by the Director of Industrial Relations.
The GWU refused to accept the outcome of the exercise, insisting that a confidential poll of port workers, which it had commissioned, gave it a 53 per cent support.
The action provoked the Freeport into requesting a garnishee order against the GWU. The GWU appealed this decision and requested that the Freeport be ordered to deposit €8 million as a guarantee for damages it was suffering as a result of the garnishee order. The decision is still pending.
In the meantime, the GWU entered into talks with a number of foreign trade unions on boycotting the CMA CGM - the owners of Malta Freeport - in several foreign ports.