Gejtu Vella, secretary general of the Union Haddiema Maghqudin, has written to Labour leader Alfred Sant to explain the position of the UHM in the social pact talks on overtime.

He wrote that both the MLP’s deputy leader, Charles Mangion, and Dr Sant himself had stated that it was the General Workers’ Union which had objected to the social pact proposal that the first 100 hours of overtime each year would not be paid at the applicable rate.

The facts were not so, Mr Vella said, going on to ask that the Labour Party should stop giving incorrect information.

The proposal about the first 100 hours of overtime had been presented by the employers’ associations, and all unions – the UHM, the CMTU and the GWU – had immediately opposed it.

Mr Vella added that he and his colleagues were always disposed to meet Dr Sant to give the sequence of events.