He said that while it took the necessary steps to re-activate its registration as a union, it said that the aim of any union is to protect its members from any unlawful action taken by the members’ employers, thus giving them the right to strike if necessary.

In this respect, UKAM members are not employees of the Malta Song Board and the board is not anyone’s employer.

The board is a committee appointed by the Culture and Tourism Ministry, he said.

Mr Vassallo added that “Mrs Borg’s comment regarding UKAM’s current status is a weak ploy to deviate from the actual core of the matter being disputed”.

He said it was surprising that Mrs Borg is insisting that she never committed herself to anything with UKAM. He explained that during the press conference when last year’s festival regulations were published, Mrs Borg had asked all present, including UKAM representatives, to accept the clause permitting foreign participation because she had been handed the regulations in the 11th hour and had no time to review them.

“She had promised all the interested parties present at the press conference that the regulations for this year’s festival would be discussed with UKAM and all interested parties prior to their publication.

This year’s festival regulations were published without being discussed as promised by Mrs Borg herself, thus leading to the current dispute between the Malta Song Board and the Maltese composers, authors, singers and recording engineers which are being represented by UKAM,” Mr Vassallo said.