Union complains of being removed from State Boards

THE NATIONAL Union of Govern-ment and Federated Workers has complained that its representatives are kicked off State Boards and replaced by “much lesser mortals.”

President general of the union Robert Giuseppi made the charge while giving an account of his stewardship over the last three years. Giuseppi spoke at the Eleventh Triennial Convention of NUGFW over the weekend. “A State authority tried to prevent us from building houses for working class people in an upper class area, but want us to act normal when they are proposing to downsize our bargaining unit,” he said. According to Giuseppi, the NUGFW believes in and is committed to the due process of collective bargaining and the observance of good principles and practices of good industrial relations “The union has shown its commitment to its membership, whereby, it is soon to administer and introduce an employment training institute in collaboration with the National Training Agency,” said Giuseppi. About the performance of the union itself over the last three years, Giuseppi said there were 30 negotiations, with 21 settled in the private sector.  Eight new bargaining units were formed and the union  recruited over 2,600, he said. A total of 110 matters were settled at the Industrial Court, with 107 in the workers’ favour. In the union’s Industrial Relations Department, of 3,364 disputes, 2,920 were settled.