GWU secretary general Tony Zarb warns Dockers’ representative Sammy Meilaq to tone down militancy ‘in the national interest’, as shipyard gates set to close by end of month
Karl Stagno-Navarra Veteran shipyards stalwart Sammy Meilaq will this morning address workers at the Malta Drydocks, in defiance of a warning issued to him by GWU secretary-general Tony Zarb who has reportedly ordered him not to jeopardise the position of the remaining workers, days before government intends to close the shipyards and hand them over to Neapolitan firm, Palumbo SpA.
Meilaq, who is set to retire in two weeks’ time, has reportedly been asked by senior GWU officials – including Zarb – to do away with militancy tactics and to be reasonable in his approach with workers, government and Palumbo.
Contacted last night, Tony Zarb declined to comment specifically on Sammy Meilaq, however he told MaltaToday that the Shipyards issue is “extremely delicate” and of “national importance”, and that it must be handled with “utmost care.”
While government has reportedly informed the GWU that it intends to officially close the gates at the Cottonera Shipyards on Tuesday March 30, senior GWU officials are set to travel to Italy to meet up with Palumbo executives in a bid to secure conditions for their workers, and defuse any possible revolt inside the yards while also avoiding any breakdown in talks between government and Palumbo SpA.
Government has already warned the GWU that should the talks fail with Palumbo, then it will have no other choice but to file for liquidation and all workers will be made redundant.
Sources inside the ‘yards have told MaltaToday that a series of directives have already been issued by Sammy Meilaq since last week, urging workers for work to rule, go slow and not to accept any over-time at night.
A mass meeting for workers, meant to be held last Monday, was abruptly cancelled as GWU officials summoned Sammy Meilaq and his team to the Valletta HQ for ‘talks’.
MaltaToday is also informed that Sammy Meilaq was repeatedly called to Valletta since last Monday in a bid to keep him away from the yards as much as possible, but insiders have also said that it is just a matter of time before Meilaq decides to break away from the GWU Central Committee and go his own way.
While Sammy Meilaq was not in a position to be contacted yesterday, he told this paper last Monday that he was “willing to speak” about the “serious crisis” inside the ‘yards and the eventual takeover by Palumbo.
In a draft of a speech that was meant to be delivered to workers last Monday – a copy of which has been obtained by MaltaToday – Sammy Meilaq lists the issues that he will not settle for.
Meilaq claims that he and his workers will never accept a transfer of assets by government to Palumbo SpA, and neither a company liquidation.
He insists that the Palumbo takeover will happen on a transfer of business basis only, and that the conditions will be set by the workers: including making Palumbo accept to employ between 500 to 700 employees.
According to the draft, Sammy Meilaq is insisting that the GWU must keep its office inside the yard, and picks on a series of union related issues, among which he says that Palumbo SpA does not intend to recognise any union.
On health and safety issues, Meilaq insists that both government and Palumbo must “leave all health and safety equipment” in place.
Meilaq, who yesterday represented his Metal Section at a rowdy meeting inside the GWU office at the ‘yards, was overheard to be determined to fight on and stressed that he has “nothing to lose.”
Senior GWU officials have told MaltaToday that the union has been in contact with their Italian partners CGL in a bid to obtain as much information as possible about Palumbo, as time is running out to crush the ongoing scaremongering campaign.
MaltaToday is informed that government has told GWU that Palumbo intends to “start from scratch”, and that the policy for recruitment will be to “hire and fire” personnel as is the norm in most private enterprises.
But while the situation inside the ‘yards has been described to MaltaToday to be “just moments” away from armed militancy by a small number of workers, the vast majority of its workforce have expressed preoccupation at the situation.
Sammy Meilaq, as President of the GWU Metal Section, has taken absolute patronage of the 300 workers who are currently engaged by the yards on a week-to-week basis, and are insisting on being given a further sum should they not be hired by Palumbo SpA.
Another 64 workers, who accepted no scheme, are still awaiting their fate, hoping that government honours its word with them for redeployment either with Palumbo, the private sector or within any other government enterprise.
Some claim that they have not been informed so far that government has already given GWU a guarantee that, should they not be hired by Palumbo SpA, they will be transferred to Industrial Projects and Services Ltd (IPSL) an entity created to absorb redundant surplus workers and place them with local councils.
Labour leader Joseph Muscat meanwhile refrained from commenting on whether he has met with Sammy Meilaq.
In comments to MaltaToday, Muscat accused government of not having “the decency to brief Parliament about what is really going on” about this matter.
Muscat said that “the whole privatisation process has been mismanaged from the very beginning, at the expense of taxpayers and workers.
“The fact that Government even made a considerable mistake when announcing the meagre sum it would be netting was symptomatic of this mess,” he stressed.
The Labour leader concluded that this issue is “particularly disappointing because Labour has offered a helping hand to the Government on this issue from the very start, yet this was repeatedly turned down by Lawrence Gonzi.”
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