The Union Haddiema Maghqudin said yesterday that despite attempts by the General Workers Union to disrupt the strike action at Maltapost, the UHM was satisfied with the way that its members had implemented directives.

The union said that the support and solidarity shown by the workers themselves testified to the fact that they knew who was working in their best interests. A total strike was ordered from early yesterday morning over a disagreement with the management with regard to a new collective agreement, and workers who were on the night shift stopped working as from midnight.

The union also pointed out that workers from the Xewkija hub attended the demonstration in front of Maltapost’s head office yesterday.

Union secretary-general Gejtu Vella addressed the workers at the rally and assistant secretary-general Jesmond Bonello read out a number of new directives that will be implemented today. The union also said that the Health and Safety Manager at Maltapost had tried to

disrupt the function of shop stewards.

The union said the same could be said of the assistant manager at the San Gwann hub, who had tried to convince workers not to participate in the strike action. The UHM said it was clear that the Maltapost management and the GWU were in cahoots to try and disrupt the strike action. The union also said it would continue to use all

possible measures to ensure better working conditions for employees at Maltapost.

In a press release issued later yesterday evening, Maltapost said that the industrial action ordered by Maltapost had only partially affected its services.

The majority of the company’s postal outlets had remained open, and packages had been delivered as normal. The distribution of letters had been suspended only in certain areas, the company said.

Maltapost said that following discussions with the union that bean in June 2006, the company had accepted all the proposals put forward by the union, except for the financial package. It said it had explained its financial situation and explained that the request was not sustainable, pointing out that it was operating in a competitive market and could not sustain such increases.

However, Maltapost said the union’s reply was that, since it was a government entity, it had to accept its proposals whether they were sustainable or not.

It said that the union is expecting the government to intervene, either by introducing some sort of subsidy or by increasing prices for postal services, this notwithstanding the fact that Maltapost had agreed to give rises that were higher than those the union had signed for other government department employees with whom the salaries of postal workers are usually compared.

Maltapost said it hoped to continue discussions with the union so that an agreement could be reached.