Josephine Attard Sultana and Francis Buttigieg, secretary and president respectively of the General Workers' Union's public service section, were relieved of their duties by the union's national council yesterday.
Their dismissal followed the approval of a motion moved by the central administration which the union said was approved by the national council with 29 votes in favour and 13 against. Sources said there were three invalid votes and about 15 council members were absent.
The motion and subsequent dismissal came just days after Ms Attard Sultana had successfully filed court action to stop the holding of an extraordinary general meeting of her section.
The motion in fact "noted what happened following a call for an extraordinary general conference by delegates of the public service workers' section".
It said that Ms Attard Sultana's and Mr Buttigieg's behaviour went against the union's well-being and interests.
In terms of the powers granted to it by the GWU's constitution and regulations, the national council said it had decided to terminate all posts that Ms Attard Sultana and Mr Buttigieg occupied within the union.
The union said the running of the public service section was now in the hands of the central administration until a general conference for the section was held so that "delegates would elect their officials in a democratic manner".
Contacted by phone, Ms Attard Sultana, who has been active within the GWU since 1982, said now that the union administration was saying everything was in their hands, she would be considering what steps she might take according to the statute and at law.
She said she was not allowed go to her office after the national council meeting and it was only after pressure from people who supported her that she was given access.
Ms Attard Sultana said that while she was packing up her personal belongings she received a phone call from the Police Commissioner who, while acknowledging that it was a delicate moment, informed her that he had received a report that she was occupying the office when she was no longer entitled to do so. She told the head of police she was merely packing up and planned to leave peacefully as soon as she was through.
Ms Attard Sultana said she was particularly saddened by the whole incident because it involved other people apart from herself.
She expressed her gratitude to the union sections, particularly the maritime and aviation section and the media and services section and their delegates, her section's executive committee and the public who expressed solidarity with her.
Mr Buttigieg had been in the union for 40 years.
Concluding the national council's meeting yesterday, GWU secretary general Tony Zarb said steps would be taken, come what may, against those who acted outside the union's structure, the sources said.
A meeting for section delegates was held on Monday when 33 delegates were reportedly present. Ms Attard Sultana's section has about 80 delegates and the sources said that among those who were absent from Monday's meeting were delegates who had signed the petition for the extraordinary general meeting to be held.
Mr Zarb told the delegates present he still considered the petition to be a valid one and he would continue to work "so that the will of the delegates would prevail".
Leaflets printed on a home computer were distributed prior to Monday's meeting saying the only option Ms Attard Sultana had was out of the union. Anonymous letters against her were sent to delegates' homes last week.
The saga came into the open last week when a judge upheld a request by Ms Attard Sultana not to allow an extraordinary general meeting of her section to take place on Monday as the central administration had decreed.
Ms Attard Sultana asked the court to stop the extraordinary general meeting which would have decided on whether she would keep her job or not. She argued that the manner in which the meeting had been summoned violated the GWU's statute.
She said a June 22 petition calling for an extraordinary general meeting for the section's delegates and for the replacement of the section's secretary did not conform to the union's statute because the 40 per cent quota had not been reached. This resulted from a report compiled by a committee set up by section representatives on July 17 to scrutinise the petition.
Mr Zarb argued in his reply that Ms Attard Sultana's bid was not a democratic one. He said her court application was null because the public service section formed part of the union and so it did not have the autonomous juridical personality required to take legal action.
However, Mr Justice J.R. Micallef ruled that Ms Attard Sultana had the right to ensure that anything that happened within the union was according to statute, especially since the meeting in question concerned her personally.
Although the issue between the parties was an internal one that ought to be decided within the organisation, such a principle was only valid so long as no internal regulations were being breached. In this case, Ms Attard Sultana was claiming a breach of statute and, therefore, juridical intervention was in order, the court decided last week.