06 June 2007


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Port reforms will substantially reduce costs, Galea announces

Karl Schembri

Port reforms are set to enter the final stage five months beyond the deadline set by Competitiveness Minister Censu Galea, now that licensed dock workers have approved an agreement negotiated between the government and the Malta Dockers’ Union.
Approved unanimously last Thursday, the agreement is expected to be signed next week and the minister promises “substantial reduction in costs”.
Galea had said last year that the port reforms would bring about a reduction of 25 per cent in costs to businesses but the Federation of Industry was highly critical of the process, saying the exorbitant costs remained the same.
“Now that the agreement has been approved we will be signing it in the coming days, literally days, and I can say there will be substantial reduction in costs,” the minister told MaltaToday shortly after the union announced its endorsement.
The reforms were largely delayed following the mass resignation of over 300 port workers from the General Workers’ Union last September, in the wake of acrimonious splits among the leadership headed by Tony Zarb.
“Yes, in terms of timeframes we were caught lagging behind,” Galea said. “We had to conclude this at the latest by the end of last year, it’s true, we are delayed by some five months. Of those five months, three or four were totally lost in the transition period when workers shifted their representation from GWU to the Malta Dockers’ Union, but with the end result we are going to achieve it will have been worth waiting for.”



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