Independent UHM

A recent piece in a Maltese daily tried to portray the General Workers' Union and Union Haddiema Maghqudin as favouring the Labour Party and Nationalist Party respectively.

But, in this regard, is the problem of political affinity identical for the two unions? The answer is a clear no. The recent and the not-so-recent past show that the stand taken by the UHM, whether Labour or the Nationalists were in government, has been the same.

One may remember, way back in 1967 during a Nationalist government, the civil service strike ordered by the UHM. And over the last few years the UHM has taken industrial action in practically every public entity where it has majority membership.

The speech on May 1 by Gejtu Vella, secretary general of the UHM, criticising the government regarding the Auditor General's report and the magisterial inquiry on the financial aspects of the Foundation for Tomorrow's Schools, clearly shows that, for the UHM, there is no favouring a particular political party in government.

The UHM has never used the media to criticise a particular political party.

Unfortunately, the stand the UHM takes vis-à-vis the political parties is only cited when a particular party deems fit to cite it. On the UHM's part, we are going to continue practising independent trade unionism. This is the only way to defend the workers' rights.