JTUM, BIGWU tell Perenco: Address covid19 fears on rig
Wednesday 23 December 2020
THE Joint Trade Union Movement (JTUM) says it is angered by the attitude of Perenco Trinidad and Tobago, while the Banking Insurance and General Workers Union (BIGWU) is requesting clarity.
This follows claims over the past three days that Perenco s offshore workers tested positive for covid19 on one of the rigs.
Claims have also been made that covid19 patients on the rig are free to mingle and interact with the other workers, and that some were given permission to return home without being tested for the virus.
These claims were included in a TT Guardian article on Tuesday in which Perenco workers were explaining the situation.
Malta Air never wanted to reach an agreement to prevent redundancies, GWU says
General Workers Union says that Ryanair subsidiary Malta Air would not guarantee that if workers took a pay cut for four years there would be no redundancies
23 December 2020, 10:51am
by Laura Calleja
Malta Air would not guarantee no redundancies despite workers being forced to accept a pay reduction, the General Workers Union said as it rejected the airline’s claims.
The union was reacting to Malta Air’s statement on Tuesday that it failed to reach an emergency agreement, resulting in the loss of 40 cabin crew jobs in January.
These are the stories making headlines in local newspapers this Wednesday.
Times of Malta reports that doctors want a blanket ban on all UK-Malta flights, saying that the risk of allowing even a single person infected with a more contagious strain of COVID-19 is too great.
The newspaper also gives prominence to news that 40 cabin crew working for Malta Air are to be made redundant.
Malta Today leads with Nationalist Party leader Bernard Grech, who said his political rival Robert Abela lacked the political and moral strength to act promptly against junior minister Rosianne Cutajar. Cutajar was exposed as having taken a €46,500 commission from a property sale to Yorgen Fenech.
Some of the Perenco Trinidad and Tobago Limited workers wait on a shuttle boat to be transferred to Point Galeota on Sunday, after testing positive for COVID-19.
The Banking, Insurance and General Workers Union (BIGWU) has written to Dr Roshan Parasram, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) at the Ministry of Health, asking him to intervene in the situation at offshore platforms belonging to energy company Perenco, where several workers have contracted COVID-19.
In the correspondence signed by Acting President Mario Als and which was shared with workers and the media BIGWU calls on the CMO
“to investigate and determine whether Perenco has met the required standards to ensure not only the health, safety and well-being of their employees, but also the public at large”.
The following are the main stories in Friday’s newspapers.
Times of Malta, The Malta Independent and
in-Nazzjon say Malta will join the rest of the EU on December 27 for the start of its vaccinations against COVID-19.
In another story,
Times of Malta says the government has welcomed an opinion given by the Advocate-General of the European Court of Justice that the method of appointment of the members of the judiciary in Malta does not conflict with European law.
The Malta Independent also reports that the Education Minister withdrew the call for National Book chairman Mark Camilleri’s resignation.
L-Orizzont says the General Workers Union has saved 40 jobs of Evolution employees.