Bank employees’ union accuses GWU of unethical behaviour

The Malta Union of Banking Employees has rebutted claims by General Workers Union secretary-general Tony Zarb that his union was the largest union in the banking sector.

MUBE secretary William Portelli took umbrage at claims during the GWU congress on Thursday that the union was the largest representative of banking employees, accusing Zarb of unethical behaviour.

"GWU officials are seriously failing their members in the banking sector by feeding them false and misleading information. The GWU's approach escalated immediately after the March general election," Portelli said.

"We have asked the director of employment and industrial relations to intervene and conduct an open and transparent verification process to determine Bank of Valletta membership," Portelli said.

The MUBE secretary accused GWU officials of "instilling fear" amongst workers by "deceitfully promising heaven on earth to those who resign form MUBE and join the GWU."

"Is this the type of union solidarity the GWU want? This is unethical and blatant poaching which poses a significant threat to trade unionism. Members are feeling constantly under threat and targeted and are led to believe that resigning from MUBE and joining the GWU section is the only way to move forward in the bank," Portelli said.

The MUBE secretary said the GWU's approach was ridiculing trade unions and trade unionism in general to the detriment of the employees and their families.

He added that this was causing unwarranted disruption, delaying collective agreement negotiations to the detriment of the employees across the board.

In a reaction, the GWU said that "hundreds" of MUBE members had joined the GWU in the past five months, saying the bank employees' union had lost its majority in Bank of Valletta.

"This has been confirmed by Bank of Valletta in correspondence with the two unions. BOV offered MUBE a verification of membership, but this was denied. MUBE is doing all that it possible to hinder the collective agreement process with GWU.

"The employees who left the union surely did this because of the service they were getting from the MUBE."