Editorial

The past few weeks have seen a veritable haemorrhage of section leaders, delegates and ordinary members from the General Workers Union, Malta's largest trade union, which a month from now celebrates its 63rd birthday.

Actually, the union has little to celebrate this year, as first Josephine Attard Sultana, secretary of the Public Sector section, was dismissed by the administrative council after an attempt to call a section delegates' meeting to sanction her ouster was ruled illegal by the courts, then the majority of port workers' foremen resigned from the union to join the UHM. This was followed by the resignation of the secretary of the maritime and aviation section and his entire committee.

The majority of port workers then announced that they were resigning from the GWU to form a house union, since they insisted that they wanted the lawyer of their choice, Dr George Abela, to represent them in talks on port reform with the government - to the chagrin of the union's central administration. The Union Press papers insisted that "only" 44 per cent of the 360-odd port workers had resigned, when the figure by Friday had reached 70 per cent.

More resignations followed: the GWU representative on Air Malta's works council, and, on Friday, a third section secretary - Karmenu Vella, head of the services and media section, and nine out of ten members of his committee and 16 delegates.

The common denominator in all these resignations is the seemingly ham-fisted attitude adopted by GWU secretary-general Tony Zarb, his deputy Geitu Mercieca and the union's central administration in dealing with any perceived criticism of, or disagreement with, their policies.

The GWU leadership prides itself on its "militancy" which it apparently interprets to mean that there is no room for "moderates", i.e., for dissent or simply for another point of view. It accuses its internal critics (many of whom are external by now) of following an agenda to "weaken" the GWU.

It seems as if the lessons of the past have been lost on the present GWU leadership. After this spate of resignations - which surely cannot be dismissed as an 'internal matter' or a 'family squabble' - the union is fast losing credibility, and it will not regain it until it adopts a radically different outlook and approach.

That cannot be done unless Mr Zarb and Mr Mercieca resign, since it is obvious by now that they will not change their ways. Their continued presence can only further undermine what is left of the union's credibility.

Under their leadership, the union's close identification with the Labour Party, which says it has a 'privileged' relationship with the GWU, continues to gnaw at that credibility. Back in the Seventies and Eighties, the MLP-GWU 'fusion' had led the union to aid and abet the Labour government's ruthless campaign against the free trade unions, even if this meant going against basic trade union principles. Partisan politics have no place in a trade union.

The latest GWU crisis is not about a clash of personalities, although that too comes into it to some extent; it is about the union's readiness to adapt itself to the new challenges facing the economy, and thus the labour force it wants to represent. We are now living in an age of globalisation, where competitiveness is the only key to economic survival. Many work practices of the past are no longer relevant today.

The current crisis within the GWU should worry those who have the interest of workers at heart. After all, the GWU can look back to a number of achievements and advances for the workers it has represented in virtually all sectors of Maltese life. It has slipped, and slipped badly, however, whenever it allowed partisan politics to dictate its course of action.

By contrast, the second largest trade union, the Union Haddiema Maghqudin, has always acted in what it deemed to be its members' - and the nation's - best interests, whichever political party was in power. No wonder the UHM has continued to grow from strength to strength.

To enable the GWU to come out of its present morass, Mr Zarb and Mr Mercieca should take the honourable course of action and step down. The avalanche of resignations we have seen is surely a vote of no confidence in their leadership. The two top men's resignation would then enable the union to start afresh, perhaps giving Dr Abela - with his vast experience in industrial relations and the workers' respect and support he obviously enjoys - an important role in restoring its credibility.