General Workers’ Union secretary general Tony Zarb today warned of further industrial action in the event ST Microlectronics continues to ignore the union’s calls to halt austerity measures.

This morning, workers at ST workers were ordered to strike by the GWU for two hours.

Speaking to this newsroom, he said that employees working this evening’s shift are also expected to strike between 6 and 8pm.

Mr Zarb said that there was a cut-off date when the company was meant to halt the austerity measures which have been in place for quite a while but the “company took advantage and continued to implement such measures”.

He said that another ongoing issue is the fact that the collective agreement has not been negotiated as yet and the company has been ignoring the union’s calls to reach a deal. Mr Zarb said that the issue at stake is the workers' financial package.

Mr Zarb said that the union requested that the foreign representatives of the company come over to Malta to discuss the ongoing issues affecting the company’s workers, warning that the union will continue to order industrial action until a meeting is set up to discuss the pending issues.