Outgoing General Workers' Union general secretary Tony Zarb does not exclude entering the political arena.
Grilled by Reno Bugeja on last night's edition of Dissett whether he intended to enter the political fray, like former Union Haddiema Maghqudin general secretary Gejtu Vella, Mr Zarb replied:
"So far I have no indication. I exclude nothing... but it's remote."
He also revealed he had been approached to contest past MEP elections - presumably on the Labour Party ticket.
Mr Zarb insisted he had always sought unity in the GWU even though many officials had quit the union along the years.
"Whoever refused to listen or had ulterior motives didn't unite."
Mr Zarb retires during the national conference of the GWU today.
He told Times of Malta that yesterday, before he left the GWU premises on his last full day as general secretary, he spent an hour sitting alone in his office, “reminiscing on the good times and the bad”.
A statue of St Publius, which sat in a display case throughout his 17-year tenure, has already been taken home. “Once he’s gone, it’s time for me to go too,” Mr Zarb, born in Floriana, joked on his way out.
The veteran trade unionist has been a mainstay of the union landscape since his debut in 1981, and may best be remembered for his “Issa Daqshekk” (“enough is enough”) campaign of public protests back in 2000.
He considers the campaign a highlight of his career, but it is the fight against precarious employment that he points to as his most important.
“My last speech [at today’s general conference] will be on the subject,” he told the Times of Malta. “That battle needs to remain at the forefront of our work until it is won.”
Uncompromising in his defence of workers’ rights, Mr Zarb yesterday said he was proud of the “militant” label his efforts had attracted over the years.
“God forbid a trade unionist should not be militant,” he said. “That doesn’t mean smashing things and beating people up, but fighting to the end in defence of the worker. That’s your obligation as a trade unionist.”
Mr Zarb, however, has never shaken off accusations of partisanship – with a historic link to the Labour Party, the union has been seen to be quieter under Labour governments than Nationalist ones.
The outgoing secretary general, however, insisted that this has never been the case. Rather, he said, the last two years have simply not given rise to many occasions for vociferous demonstration.
“Do people expect us to protest against lower unemployment, lower utility bills, a government tackling precarious work?
“We have always acted according to the circumstances of the time. So there’s nothing I can say we should have done differently. Nationalist governments did not listen to us, so we had to act as we did.”
He pointed to the privatisation of Sea Malta as his biggest “disappointment”, arguing that then-minister Austin Gatt had repeatedly promised one thing in discussions with the union while working behind its back to push the deal through.
With that in mind, is he concerned with the gradual shift of the Labour Party to the right in the past few years?
“There’s nothing wrong with being pro-business, as long as it never forgets that it’s a worker’s party,” Mr Zarb said. “The measures taken for workers in these past two years have been substantial. I hope that remains the case.”
Moreover, he said, the fact that employers and workers now sit round the same table and consider each other social partners showed a shift in the role of unions as well.
Looking forward, Mr Zarb is adamant that he will allow his successor – his current deputy Josef Bugeja – go about his work unencumbered.
But at the same time, while he is leaving the top spot, he has no intention of departing the scene altogether.
“The day I die, I want to still be offering my services to the GWU,” he said.