The Union Haddiema Maghqudin replied yesterday to a statement issued by the director of the law courts, Kevin Mahoney, with regard to staff shortages in the Office of the Court Registrar. The UHM said the director had been quoted as saying that no staff shortages existed; however, the union had informed the Court’s administration last summer that two employees were doing the work of five.

The section said it had offered to help find a solution, but it was only after an ultimatum was issued that 12 casual workers were employed, with the result that apart from their workload, regular staff also had to train the new employees. In November, the union had been informed that one of the court’s marshals would be retiring and so therefore the section contacted the court’s administration to find a solution to ease the burden on the other court marshals.

Two months had passed and the situation had not improved, the union said, and therefore it issued an ultimatum that, unless action was taken by today, the union would be forced to order industrial action.

The UHM said it believed that where employees were under stress, every administration should be proactive and strive to find a solution before the situation gets out of hand.

It was for this reason, the union said, that it had called for an urgent meeting with the

permanent secretary.