The union said it will issue the schedule by no later than 3 September and if the meetings are not held, it will resort to registering an industrial dispute.

Despite several pleas, said the union, the last meeting with government representatives took place more than five months ago and there seemed to be no interest from the government to reach agreement.

It said that a collective agreement was signed in December 2002 and the sectoral agreement was supposed to be concluded by June 2003.

The union also said that in May this year Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi had promised that an appointment would be given to reach a sectoral agreement.