UĦM escalates industrial action for Transport Malta employees from today
UĦM Voice of the Workers is escalating its industrial action as from today, 30 May.
The UĦM had previously called for industrial action for Transport Malta employees over the “unacceptable” two-year delay to sign a new collective agreement. The industrial action meant that if a TM enforcement officer had to stop someone from breaking the law, they had been ordered to only issue a warning.
The UĦM had said that talks about this collective agreement have been ongoing since 2020, which was the same year that the agreement had expired.
In a statement issued on Monday, the UĦM said that, despite issuing a deadline for Transport Malta to submit their counter proposals, this had not yet happened, and was therefore grounds for escalating the industrial action that was already in place.
Additional directives will be implemented for employees who fall under the General Collective Agreement, and for Managers and Assistant Managers under the Managerial and Professional Collective Agreement.
“These industrial actions also apply to the contract workers providing services to Transport Malta”, a statement read.
The new directives are : directly-related work affidavits will not be signed; there will be no external communication with organizations, companies and individuals using Transport Malta's services; for assistant managers and above, their personal mobile phones are not to be used for work purpose; driving tests will be conducted every two hours instead of every hour; and work uniforms are not to be worn (but protective gear that ensures health and safety are to be worn).
These additional measures are meant to complement the directives issued by the UĦM on 9 May which will remain in effect - namely in cases of legal violations, no citations or fines are to be issued and the Authority’s phones should not be used for internal or external communication.
Further, enforcement officers and senior enforcement officers shall report for duty according to their assigned details. If the detail does not indicate a specific place to work from, they shall perform tasks related to road enforcement in their respective districts.