The government will continue to weaken union representation at the highest levels if the concept of worker-director at Bank of Valletta is removed, the General Workers’ Union said yesterday.

In a statement, the union said Investment, Industry and IT Minister Austin Gatt was reported to have put forward this proposal to the president of the Malta Union of Bank Employees, who had confirmed it to a section of the media.

The GWU represents hundreds of BOV workers through its Services and Media Section and it said it felt it should have been consulted on such an important issue. The GWU said it could not understand why the government had only discussed the matter with the MUBE.

The proposal that was made by the government was for the elimination of the worker-director and his replacement with a council of employees. The union expressed itself in favour of the setting up of such a council, and would like to participate in it. But at the same time, the council’s function is completely different to that of a worker-director.

The union said the council could work without the elimination of the position of worker-director, as it believed that the two mechanisms could complement each other.