A marathon of more than 10 hours of talks between the government, the General Workers Union and the management of the shipyards yesterday led to progress on various pending issues in the controversial shipyard workers' new collective agreement.
The meeting focused on wages and, unlike the previous meeting when the issue ended in deadlock, the parties agreed to meet again to continue with the talks.
The meeting, which started at 9.30 a.m. at the Ministry of Finance, ended late in the evening.
The talks will be led by Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi for the government and GWU general secretary Tony Zarb for the union.
Finance Minister John Dalli, yard chairman John Cassar White and GWU deputy general secretary Manuel Micallef took an active part in the meeting.
Late last night the government, the yard management and the union released a joint statement saying that the long talks have led to progress on various pending issues in the collective agreement. Both sides agreed that a technical meeting will be held tomorrow for certain aspects of the proposals put forward yesterday to be clarified.
The government and the union also agreed to meet again on Wednesday afternoon to continue with the talks at a political level.
The parties agreed not to release more information at this stage.
It is not yet clear whether agreement has been reached on the issue of the rise in the basic pay of yard workers, the bone of contention which last week led to the suspension of talks between the two parties.
The negotiations form part of an extensive exercise aimed at overhauling the work practices at the yards. The government has also declared its intention of downsizing the workforce by 900 to 1,600.
A five-hour-long meeting between the government and the GWU over the yards ended in deadlock last week, with the union objecting to the government's stand that any wage increases should be linked to productivity and profitability - Malta Drydocks is making an annual loss running at Lm15 million and has amassed debts of some Lm310 million.
However, last Friday the government informed the union that it was prepared to resume the talks.
Up to last week the government was insisting that the only rise contemplated would be performance-related and that the union had accepted such a concept at other places of work. The government was also prepared to grant allowances when contracts were profitably concluded.
However, the union was insisting that the government should raise wages.