Public held to ransom by trade unions

Lino Spiteri's recent contribution to current trade union activity (November 11) once more throws light on a recurring problem affecting the well-being of the people of these islands.

I am referring to the so-called industrial action taken by some trade unions, action which has nothing to do with industry but has much to do with essential public services such as those concerned with public transport and health- care services.

In these latter instances the real victims of such strikes are the weaker sectors of our population, such as the ordinary worker making his or her way to work by bus, or the sick person receiving treatment in our public hospitals. It is they who are held to ransom often by leaders of trade unions or professional associations who are determined to have the last word, regardless of anything or anyone.

A ready example of such high handed action was the edict by the nurses' union to deny treatment to a dying cancer patient, because the patient was rude to a nurse.

It is high time. where essential public services are involved, that the calling of strikes be more strictly regulated by law. It is certainly not beyond the ingenuity of our legal luminaries in this age of human rights to devise some civilised legal framework within which industrial disputes can be settled, "in place of strife".

In a social democracy such as ours there should be little or no room for tin-pot tammany hall bosses who can, at the drop of a hat, hold large numbers of our vulnerable population at their mercy.