The GWU has maintained industrial action at Malta Freeport despite a €1 million garnishee order which the union said has effectively frozen all its assets. The garnishee order was issued by a court yesterday at the request of Malta Freeport.

The GWU this morning held a meeting of its executive council and the union workers' council at the Malta Freeport which discussed the current situation.

Union General Secretary Tony Zarb said the garnishee order was a direct attack on the GWU but also on trade unionism in general.

He said the GWU would raise the matter with representatives of foreign trade unions when they come to Malta next week to discuss what support they could give Maltese port workers.

The representatives will be coming to Malta to look into the dispute between the GWU and the Malta Dockers Union on union recognition for port workers.

The GWU had rejected a verification exercise conducted by the Director of Industrial Relations to decide the issue, but Malta Freeport yesterday granted recognition to the MDU on the basis of that exercise.

Earlier in the week, the GWU commissioned an independent secret ballot which, it said, found that it enjoyed the backing of the majority of the workers.

The industrial action at Malta Freeport - a go slow - was ordered by the GWU to press its claim for recognition. Malta Freeport said it requested the garnishee order in order to be compensated for the damages caused.

"This is a very serious situation which the GWU views as threatening its own existence, and it therefore does not exclude the possibility of an escalation and a widening of the dispute," the GWU said in a statement yesterday.

See also

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090409/local/mdu-granted-recognition-by-malta-freeport