PN files judicial letter over breach of conditions by General Workers’ Union
The Nationalist Party has filed a judicial letter against the General Workers’ Union for breaking its ground rent conditions of its headquarters in Valletta, Shadow Minister Jason Azzopardi announced at a press conference yesterday.
The judicial letter is also addressed to the Commissioner of Lands, the Attorney General, Arms Ltd., and Sciacca Grill.
This legal action follows a report compiled by the National Audit Office, which found that the General Workers’ Union breached its contract as an investigation concluded that the union broke lease conditions when it sublet office space to state billing company ARMS Ltd, the travel agency Vjaġġi Untours and the restaurant Sciacca Grill.
Dr Azzopardi said that the Nationalist Party would be taking further legal action should the government fail to take action within the next 15 days.
Should the GWU be found to have broken these conditions by a court of law, then the union would have to vacate its premises entirely, Dr Azzopardi said.
The GWU has broken its contract, he said, since it does not have a 51 per cent shareholding in any of the three companies, a condition in its lease agreement with the government if parts of the Workers’ Memorial Building were to be used for commercial purposes.
The iconic building in South Street, Valletta, was granted to the GWU in 1957 to be used for trade union functions. The lease agreement was changed in 1997 to allow some areas to be used for commercial purposes as long as the GWU held the majority of shares in the companies making use of such leased areas.
The NAO investigation initiated by Dr Azzopardi claimed the GWU had breached contractual obligations when it rented out space to ARMS in 2014. The investigation was widened to look into other commercial activities carried out from the building.