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Karl Schembri and Kurt Sansone
With Sea Malta’s sale to Italian shipping giant Atlantica initialled on Friday, the prime minister yesterday warned it was now up to the General Workers’ Union to “say yes” to the final touches of the privatisation of the state-owned shipping line in the next days.
“Now all the information is public, this company now has a future, we couldn’t have found a better operator in the Mediterranean,” Lawrence Gonzi said at the PN General Conference. “Now the GWU has to say ‘yes’ to the agreement, the workers have to say ‘yes’. We won’t tolerate any obstructions, and if anyone tries to trip up anyone else along the process, let him be warned that all of Sea Malta will trip up, from top to bottom. Then they shouldn’t come to the government for cushioning. We did our part, we’ve offered our cushioning and if they don’t take it they will fall flat on their face.”
And Gonzi’s warning was reiterated yesterday by Investments Minister Austin Gatt. Addressing journalists during a press conference to divulge what the minister claimed were the ‘facts’ over Sea Malta’s privatisation, Austin Gatt insisted government will not bail the company out.
“If the GWU does not agree with the working conditions being proposed by Grimaldi for the seamen, government will probably pull out and close Sea Malta down,” Gatt said.
The forceful comments by the prime minister and Austin Gatt were described yesterday by GWU secretary general Tony Zarb as “unfair” on the union and Sea Malta’s employees.
Lamenting what he described was an undemocratic attitude by government, Zarb said that Sea Malta employees were covered by a collective agreement and he expected Grimaldi to honour it.
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