These workers seem to have been identified by their own colleagues in the ground handling section.

Talks regarding the collective agreements of the Air Malta employees continued over the weekend and will continue today. Substantial progress has been registered, said the sources, with three out of four unions involved in the discussions. Government hopes to reach the stage of a letter of intent by the end of this week so that an agreement can be signed by today week.

However such hopes can be dashed even with one union holding out as the Company Pact must be signed by all unions.

Another inherent weakness in the present negotiations is the way in which a small group of determined workers can put pressure on their own union and thus put a spoke in the wheels of any possible agreement.

Even, for instance, a three or four-hour go slow on the most busy day so far this year, over the Easter weekend, can create havoc to the airline. It is calculated that a four hour delay can easily put the airline back by between Lm1.5 million to Lm2 million, said ministry sources.

It remains to be seen, the sources said, if the unions can keep control over their members and at the same time come out with a respectable agreement. Through the implementation of the recent Industrial Relations Act, the unions now know the exact situation of the airline: they now know that the airline’s problems are not coming from the RJ-70 planes or the Azzurra adventure but through weakness in the airline’s core business.