The rivalry of the two main worker unions took a public turn yesterday with the Union Haddiema Maghqudin’s Public Entities Section accusing the General Workers’ Union of trying to poach its members by appealing directly to them.

The section said it had come to know that a letter was being distributed by the GWU’s Government and Public Entities Section which aimed to divide and deceive Maltapost employees at a time when discussions on a collective agreement had reached the final stages. The GWU, the UHM section said, knew well it did not have a majority of members at Maltapost.

It accused GWU general secretary Tony Zarb, the deputy general secretary and other GWU officials of going to the San Gwann hub to try to convince employees to resign from the UHM.

The UHM section accused the GWU of aiming to weaken the workers, thereby helping the company’s management, and added it had information that the GWU was repeating this behaviour at other work places.