The General Workers Union this afternoon insisted it enjoyed majority membership at Bank of Valletta.
The union was reacting to a Malta Union of Bank Employees (MUBE) statement this morning disputing its claim.
In a strongly-worded statement, the MUBE accused the GWU of dishonest and unethical behaviour and said officials were failing their members in the banking sector by feeding them false and misleading information. The GWU’s approach escalated immediately after the March general election.
The MUBE said it has already asked the Director of Employment and Industrial Relations to intervene and conduct an open and transparent verification process to determine membership at BOV.
"What is in fact happening at BOV is that GWU officials are instilling fear amongst workers by deceitfully promising heaven on earth to those who resign form MUBE and join the GWU. Is this the type of union solidarity the GWU want? This is unethical and blatant poaching which poses a significant threat to trade unionism. Members are feeling constantly under threat and targeted and are led to believe that resigning from MUBE and joining the GWU section is the only way to move forward in the bank," the MUBE said.
It said the GWU’s 'dishonest approach' is ridiculing trade unions and trade unionism in general to the detriment of the employees and their families whilst defeating the whole scope of solidarity between trade unions.
GWU insists it has majority membership
But in a reply, the GWU said that in the past five months, hundreds of workers joined the union many after resigning from the MUBE.
Together with its long established members, the new members led to the MUBE losing its majority as the GWU now had majority membership.
This was also being confirmed by the BOV in correspondence it sent to both unions.
The BOV offered the MUBE to verify membership, which offer was refused and the MUBE was taking such a course of action to hinder as much as possible the drawing up of a new collective agreement between the bank and the GWU.
It insisted that it was the MUBE which was giving workers the wrong information as it lost the majority some time ago but kept this fact hidden from its members.