The GWU’s futile attempt to rewrite history

A somewhat amazing statement was made by the general secretary of the General Workers’ Union, Tony Zarb, at the union’s general conference last week. He said that Nationalist governments had always been hostile towards the union over the 68 years it has been in existence. This can only be an inversion of the situation as it has existed ever since the union began supporting the Labour Party, contrary to the wishes of its founder, Reggie Miller.

It is the GWU that has been hostile to the Nationalist Party, not the other way round, a fact that is known to all in the country. In politically supporting the Labour Party and, at one time, allowing itself to become part of it through a statutory fusion that had done more harm than good to the workers’ interests, the union turned itself into a political instrument. That is how it was looked upon the moment union delegates voted in favour of its participation in politics, by 48 votes to 34, at a general conference way back in 1947, ahead of a general election.

Miller had abstained from voting on the motion and was sharply criticised for failing to give a lead. But, as he had explained afterwards, he would have “preferred” had the motion not been submitted at all. The issue of whether the GWU should openly support Labour has never been put to rest for, although there may have been times when the union was not very vocal against the PN, it has never changed its colours.

Of course, it is not unusual for trade unions to support political parties. This is done in other countries too. But, then, trade unions that openly support political parties can hardly expect not to be treated as opponents by the other parties.

There have been countless times when the GWU was seen to have been politically motivated in its actions, starting, for instance, from the overtime ban it had ordered at Malta Drydocks ahead of the 1971 election. That overtime ban had paralysed the dockyard and brought the Nationalist government of the time, led by George Borg Olivier, to its knees. The action was over and above a string of strikes that were called in that same year. Practically all were seen to have been politically motivated.

But what really sealed the union’s ties with the Labour Party was its fusion in 1978, then popularly called a “marriage” between the two wings of the Labour movement. A marriage it may well have been but, until it was dissolved, it was purely one of convenience for the Labour Party. The fusion had caused deep divisions among workers and the island’s trade union movement, with the rest of the trade unions often having to face the wrath of a government bent on eroding their rights.

Those years were probably the worst in trade unionism in the country but the “free” trade unions, as they were called to distinguish themselves from the GWU, fought on relentlessly. There were times, for instance, when the Labour government had even come down against partial industrial action.

All this is not to say that the GWU has not helped in bringing about improvements in the workers’ conditions. It has, as other unions have done as well. But it would have done better had it not chosen to become a political instrument. In this context, Mr Zarb’s attempt at rewriting history is unlikely to impress.