Industrial dispute at Bank of Valletta

A dispute has broken out between the General Workers’ Unions (GWU) and the management of the Bank of Valletta after the bank failed to grant GWU’s request for joint recognition. GWU appealed to the Union of Bank Employees (MUBE) to work together to create a strong united front in the upcoming negotiations for the new collective agreement. Although the majority of workers welcomed GWU’s proposal, MUBE refused the request.

Background to dispute

The General Workers’ Union (GWU) requested joint recognition between the Professionals, Finance and Services Section of the union and the Malta Union of Bank Employees (MUBE) from the Bank of Valletta (BOV) management. GWU put forward the request after a number of employees joined the union and due to the fact that no particular union currently represents a majority of employees. According to GWU, MUBE does not represent over 50% of bank staff and hence does not automatically have the right to represent workers in bargaining negotiations. GWU also sent a copy of the request to the Department of Industrial and Employment Relations (DIER) within the Ministry of Education. The trade union asked for a meeting to be held with the BOV management before MUBE starts negotiations on the new collective agreement for the bank’s employees.

GWU requests

GWU requested that bank employees at managerial, supervisory and clerical grades be represented by both trade unions in the bargaining round. This would guarantee the representation of GWU members during these discussions. GWU believes that such a move would be beneficial for all employees as they would have a strong common front in the upcoming negotiations.

Following a random survey among 10% of the employees, GWU claimed that the majority of BOV employees were pleased with its request. The survey confirmed that a majority of 76% of the employees surveyed supported the idea that management should give joint recognition to MUBE and GWU. According to the employees, such a move would strengthen their position in the upcoming negotiations. After the last bargaining round and the restructuring exercise that took place at the bank, employees felt they needed strong and unified representation. By having the two unions working together in their best interests, more positive results such as better working conditions and an improved financial package could be achieved.

On 2 March 2007, GWU issued a final warning to the bank’s management urging them to make a decision regarding the union’s request. The union appealed to the management to avoid unnecessary industrial strife and accept the will of its workforce.

GWU request rejected

However, MUBE did not accept GWU’s request for joint recognition. GWU representatives asked MUBE to identify what its members wanted and act accordingly. MUBE insisted on maintaining its position and the BOV management failed to grant GWU’s request. Following this, GWU registered an industrial dispute with BOV and asked for a conciliation meeting between the two parties. The union stated that the bank’s management only took into consideration the declaration made by MUBE, without verifying the membership levels of its employees.

MUBE decided to take this case to the industrial tribunal, where the union is contending that the bank cannot give joint recognition. GWU was disappointed with MUBE’s decision as they considered that it would be detrimental for the bank employees. Moreover, GWU believed that BOV could have organised a voting event to verify that the majority of employees were in favour of such joint recognition. Since this did not happen, GWU warned of industrial action and other initiatives in support of its position. Hence, the bank staff have to await the tribunal’s decision before the new collective agreement can be concluded.

Christine Farrugia, Centre for Labour Studies, University of Malta