Editorial

In the opinion of many, the Sunday political sermons in village clubs by the two main political parties only serve to keep the morale of their supporters alive. It is therefore strange and at the same time somewhat disappointing to learn now that the political rhetoric resorted to with such relish at such meetings is much to blame for the failure of the talks on the social pact. At least this is the opinion of some of the union leaders who had taken part in the social pact talks within the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development.

Comments, and sometimes even warnings, that the politicians dish out so often at such club meetings might have put pressure on those taking part in the talks. But surely the unions are supposed to be mature enough to deal with such pressure. After all, it is not the first time that, showing their mettle, they come out challenging political parties. If what the unions are saying is correct, one implication is that they have given in to the political parties' rhetoric.

Trade unions should be independent enough to act in accordance with what they think is best for their members and, more importantly when they come to deal with matters of such great importance to the national economic and social wellbeing as the social pact, in the national interest. Had they all, without exception, done this, Malta today would have been in a better situation to start tackling problems that led to the plummeting of its place in the world competitive index.

But despite all the hopes that the country held for a new beginning, no agreement was reached and the government went ahead with its move to remove entitlement to an additional day when a holiday falls over the weekend. This had been one of the key issues over which no agreement could be reached within the MCESD. And, as expected, now that the government has done this, the General Workers' Union is already warning it has not said the last word over the whole matter.

The GWU, still perceived by many as a union very close - too close, some would argue - to the Malta Labour Party, found a number of objections to what was being negotiated and backed out of the talks. Whether or not it was the only union that held up the talks is of little or no relevance in the context of a trade union movement in which, by virtue of its size, the GWU plays a dominant role.

But what is most sad is that the collapse of the social pact talks led to the spectacle of trade unions shooting arrows at each other. This happened only weeks after the coming together of all the unions in a bid to present a common front, hailed then as a good start for the setting up of a trades union council. It would be interesting to see what the general secretary of Britain's Trades Union Council, John Monks, has to say following all that has happened since his last visit here.

He would no doubt be greatly disappointed to learn that not only have the unions managed to disrupt the front they had managed to build for the talks on the social pact but one union within a confederation of trade unions has also suspended its membership from it. So rather than unity, we now have greater disunity than we had before we started on the road for the setting up of a trades union council!