A recorded conversation between General Workers’ Union chief Tony Zarb and a contractor had little to do with workers’ rights and instead dealt with union interests, the Nationalist Party’s secretary-general, Paul Borg Olivier, said yesterday.
Dr Borg Olivier reiterated calls for Mr Zarb to resign over the matter and aired an additional section of the recorded conversation, in which Mr Zarb is heard telling the contractor: “Do you think that if your employees were union members an article like that would have appeared in our newspaper?” He accused Mr Zarb, who yesterday filed a libel case against him, of “premeditated corruption”, saying the conversation was doubly incriminating.
“One, he tells the contractor that he’ll receive a ‘push’ when applying for government tenders. Two, he blackmails him using the threat of the union’s media,” Dr Borg Olivier said.
He said Mr Zarb was “trying to strike a deal” with the contractor and argued that, contrary to what the GWU had said, workers’ interests were not the focal point of discussions.
In a statement on Thursday, the GWU had said that the conversation stemmed from concerns that the contractor in question was employing workers in precarious conditions and that Mr Zarb was simply explaining that the union would have no reason to “issue articles critical of his employer if he respects his employees”.
Asked whether the contractor had been awarded government tenders, Dr Borg Olivier said he was not in a position to answer, adding the caveat that he did “not exclude it”.
He again demurred when asked whether the contractor had any ties to precarious employment.
“The issue of precarious employment is almost secondary to the main point: the thrust of this conversation was not improving workers’ conditions but rather relations between contractor and union,” he said.
Dr Borg Olivier also criticised Labour leader Joseph Muscat for his failure to condemn Mr Zarb outright and demand his resignation, saying the ties between the PL and the GWU were “not those of a normal relationship between a political party and trade union”.
Dr Borg Olivier was also asked about parallels with him holidaying with contractor Żaren Vassallo.
“In hindsight,” he replied, “I could have avoided it. But he was a PN member and mayor and I am not a decision-maker.”