Section Secretary Josephine Attard Sultana said Dr Gatt brought up the same issue during negotiations for a collective agreement, saying that there were about 300 employees who were surplus to requirements.

Ms Attard Sultana said that on that occasion, the GWU had said it was government who was taking work away from the WSC by awarding contracts to the private sector. The WSC was spending extra money, because apart from paying its own employees, the WSC also had to pay contractors for their work.

The union also pointed out that Dr Gatt had said extra workers could go back to work in various government departments, but although some WSC employees had already decided to do so, they had not yet been taken on by the Management and Personnel Office.

The situation was made worse, said Ms Attard Sultana, when 600 workers from the Drains Department were assigned to the WSC.