After the agreement, the GWU prepares for battle

The Government, namely Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami, Investments Minister Austin Gatt, Social Policy Minister Lawrence Gonzi and Attorney General Dr Anthony Borg Barthet yesterday presented a counter-protest to the General Workers’ Union judicial protest in which the union claimed a discrimination between workers in the choice of employees for the new companies Malta Shipyard Ltd and Industrial

The GWU said the management of the Malta Drydocks and the Malta Shipbuilding Co Ltd had allocated the workers not according to the conditions laid down in the collective agreement and that an arbitrary process had informed the allocation of workers.
The counter-protest stated that the 4 November 2003 agreement had already stipulated that the workers chosen to work in either the MSL or the IPSL had been assessed by the management of the Malta Drydocks and the Malta Shipbuilding Co Ltd to ensure efficiency and future of the enterprises according to reports by experts, amongst them Appledore.
The counter-protest states that both the MDD and MSCL were failed companies, and that the government strove to safeguard all 2,600 employees from both companies. Government said it had also safeguarded all workers’ rights as according to law and that the GWU had agreed with this arrangement and signed the agreement.
Government said the GWU’s allegations that the management’s allocation of workers was discriminate were unfounded because the allocation of workers had been informed by established criteria and according to the exigencies of a restructured enterprise which can reach viability whilst safeguarding these jobs.