In a statement, UHM section secretary Jesmond Bonello said the company had not honoured an agreement it had reached with the union on 24 May this year. As a result, the union has issued the directives which Maltapost employees are to follow as from today.

The employees were ordered not to use telephones and computers, not to accept and process bulk posting and not to process parcels and registered letters. Maltapost employees were also ordered not to distribute citations issued by local councils and not to distribute unaddressed mail. Lastly, the employees have been told not to process any post sent by any government department or entity.

Meanwhile, in a statement, the company informed its clients that postal services will be disrupted as from today when the directives issued by the union come into force.

In the statement, the company said it has been obliged by government policy to recruit people who have been re-deployed from other government entities, including the dockyard. Unfortunately many of these people were unfit to work for the company on medical grounds.

The UHM told the company this was not an acceptable solution to ongoing resource issues at Maltapost. These issues have been referred to the Director of Labour, the Industry, Investments and IT Ministry and the Prime Minister.

The company said expected disruptions are likely to include non-delivery of local enforcement system summonses and unaddressed mail, no processing of parcels and registered letters, no collection and processing of foreign mail, no collection from street letter-boxes, and no accepting or processing of bulk mail.

The company said its management was preparing contingency plans to safeguard the security of the mail. Maltapost apologised for the inconvenience, adding that it was hopeful of a speedy solution.