Arriva employees consider breaking away from GWU

Former General Workers Union official Karmenu Vella has been approached by Arriva employees to help them set up a break-away union or join another union. At the moment, all Arriva employees are represented by the GWU.

MaltaToday had already revealed that the President's son, Robert Abela and a potential Labour candidate, is involved in talks with public transport employees over the setting up of a house union representing the interests of Arriva bus drivers.

While the GWU is currently holding talks with Arriva over a new collective agreement covering all employees at the company, the employees are weighing their options, as they do not agree with the financial requests put forward by the union.

The Arriva employees are considering the idea to either form a house union or join the Professionals and Services Employees Union, which is run by Vella.

Contacted by MaltaToday, Vella confirmed he has been approached by Arriva employees to help them break away from the GWU. However, Vella said that he has "advised the Arriva employees to be patient and wait until the negotiations between Arriva and GWU are concluded. If the employees are not satisfied by the outcome then we will talk about other options".

Vella said that he has been contacted by employees working in different departments at Arriva, not only bus drivers. He is also involved in the Malta Dockers' Union, a break-away union representing port workers, previously represented by the GWU.

In September 2006, Vella resigned from his post as the secretary of the GWU's services and media section. He resigned due to a disagreement with the union's central administration over treatment received by the union's employees.

Three years later, Vella filed a case in the first hall of the Civil Court against the GWU, claiming that it did not pay him three months' wages and for 193 days of unused vacation leave.

When contacted by this newspaper, Robert Abela had said that he could not comment about the talks held with Arriva employees. "I cannot comment at this stage... I cannot breach the confidentiality of clients who visit me in my offices," Abela said.

MaltaToday is informed that GWU shop stewards representing Arriva employees had initially contacted Abela, a Labour Party candidate and Nationalist MP Franco Debono about breaking away from the union. It seems that Abela accepted to help the Arriva workers and advised them to contact Karmenu Vella. Reportedly, a meeting was held with the Arriva workers, during which both Abela and Vella were present.

Two weeks ago, Charles Agius - the GWU's transport section secretary - confirmed that Arriva bus drivers held a number of meetings at the GWU headquarters in Valletta as the union is attempting to thwart the drivers from breaking away and setting up a house union.

He expressed the union's opposition to any such split and described it as the "worst case possible" as it would split the employees and weaken the union's position in dealing with the company.

Agius said the union is currently negotiating a four-year collective agreement for all Arriva employees. He explained that the major stumbling block - as in most
other collective agreement talks - is the financial package.

The union's transport secretary said the bus drivers earn "slightly more than the minimum wage" and although the union is pushing for a 45% basic wage increase over four years, he said the drivers have "higher expectations".

Agius added that the final decision on any collective agreement reached by the union and the company will be taken by all employees, including the drivers in a secret vote. He noted that the driver's position is not flexible and called on all Arriva employees to stand united as he believes that "we can obtain the best possible deal in the current circumstances".

It is understood that such a move would deal a heavy financial blow to the union as it would mean losing over 500 members. Losing the Arriva employees to another union would also dent the GWU's reputation, especially after similar fall-out with port workers.

Last year, Agius and Vella were also involved in a legal tussle over who has the right to represent the workers at Tug Malta. Vella has concluded negotiations and signed a new 10-year collective agreement for Tug Malta employees, however the GWU is insisting that Vella did not have the right to do so even though he represents more than half of the workers.

This dispute is being reviewed by the Industrial Tribunal where Vella is being represented by Robert Abela, who also happens to be Tug Malta's legal consultant.