The seven employees who were found to be asleep during the night shift returned to work yesterday, but six of them are still facing suspension from work following a decision handed down by the company’s disciplinary board.

The six workers were found asleep during a night shift last month and were suspended on half-pay immediately until the company’s disciplinary board heard their case. The board in fact yesterday handed down its decision on six of the seven workers. These employees were suspended without pay for a varying number of days. They can still appeal the decision.

The board announced its ruling some time before a meeting was due to be held between the Malta Shipyards management and the General Workers’ Union section representatives in the presence of Dr Noel Vella,

the director of employment and industrial relations.

During this meeting, the company’s management agreed to accept the workers back at work as from yesterday.

If they appeal the board’s decision and their appeal is turned down, the workers will still have to spend a number of days suspended from their job after being found guilty of sleeping when they were supposed to working.

In a statement, the Malta Shipyards disciplinary board said it had handed down its decision on six of the seven workers charged with sleeping when they were supposed to be at their place of work.

In all six cases, the employees were found guilty and the disciplinary board ordered that they be suspended without pay from their workplace for a varying number of days.

The judgements are subject to appeal within five days, before the suspension is implemented.

In a separate statement issued later in the afternoon, the GWU expressed its satisfaction that “the management had accepted to let the workers back to work”.

It also said that following recommendation by the director of employment and industrial relations, the union and the company management will soon start discussing amendments to the clauses of the collective agreement dealing with discipline.

On the decisions handed down by the disciplinary board, the union said it would be evaluating them in the coming days.

In a counter-statement, the drydocks management denied that the workers had not returned to work following pressure by the GWU.

The workers involved had been asked to return to work on Monday in the same letter in which they were informed about the disciplinary board’s decision.

This meant that the workers were back on duty independently of the conciliation meeting held yesterday and this is because this is normal procedure.

Once the disciplinary board had found them guilty and decided on what punishment to inflict, there was no scope for them to remain suspended until the appeal is heard.

The management said it never accepted the union’s position that the workers’ suspension was not justified. The suspension that was given before the board’s hearing was justified and the workers will not be paid their wages for the days they were suspended.

The management also denied it had agreed to a change of disciplinary procedures. The procedures will remain as they are and the management insisted it had the right to suspend workers if rules are broken.