Telecoms company Go yesterday reported a drop in profits as three trade unions lifted a dispute they declared with it a day earlier over plans to downsize its workforce.

In an interim directors' statement based on the accounts up to the end of March, the group said that while its client base continued to grow in spite of competition, revenues dropped through declining use of services. The news came as three trade unions temporarily suspended an industrial dispute they had filed against the company, following a reconciliation meeting.

The unions had given the company till Tuesday to respond to their proposals to solve the dispute which centres around Go's decision to lay off workers should a voluntary retirement scheme not be taken up by enough employees.

On Wednesday the Union of Maltacom Graduates, the Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin and the General Workers' Union filed the dispute after Go employees received a letter telling them that, if the retirement scheme was not subscribed by as many workers as expected, then the company would have to make dismissals. The scheme closes at the end of the month.

The unions accused the company of inconsistency, pointing out that people had been employed while it planned to downsize.

The director of Industrial Relations Noel Vella called a reconciliation meeting that was held yesterday. The three unions made their points and Go representatives indicated that they were willing to reach a compromise, the unions said.

In the directors' statement yesterday the company said that, although "departures under the group's voluntary retirement scheme have been low during the period, the rate of applications has significantly increased over the past few weeks as the scheme draws to a close later this month. The group's aim is to reduce headcount to circa 1,000 in the short term."

Go said it was confident that operating costs would be reduced in the second half of the year as a result of the downsizing.

Go, which rebranded itself in 2007, currently has 1,350 full-time staff on its books, mostly inherited from its predecessors in title Telemalta Corporation and Maltacom.