The General Workers’ Union (GWU) has today registered a formal industrial dispute with Carlo Gavazzi Limited. This serious escalation comes after the company revealed imminent plans to bring foreign-based employees to Malta for a handover of operations, despite no agreement having been reached on a redundancy package for the current Maltese workforce.
The union has condemned this move as an act of bad faith that fundamentally prejudices the ongoing negotiations. The company is preparing to transfer the jobs of its long-serving Maltese employees to its plants in Mexico and China and is now attempting to use those same employees to facilitate the handover before securing their futures.
David Darmanin, Secretary of the GWU’s Technology, Electronics and Communications Section, stated: “It is frankly insulting that our members, many of whom have given decades of loyal service, would be expected to train their own Mexican replacements before Carlo Gavazzi has guaranteed them a fair and dignified exit package. The knowledge and skill of our members are valuable, and we will not allow them to be exploited while their own futures remain uncertain.”
This dispute is further aggravated by the company’s decision to obstruct the union from fulfilling its duty to its members. Management has refused the GWU permission to use the designated union notice board to inform employees about assistance with finding alternative employment and collecting CVs, a primary method of mitigating the effects of the redundancies.
The GWU has formally reserved all its rights at law and will not hesitate to issue directives for industrial action to prevent this handover until a fair agreement is reached. The union calls on the company to suspend its handover plans and return to the negotiating table in good faith.
