I was amazed to read Tony Zarb’s statement that the Nationalist government had always been hostile to the General Workers’ Union. Obviously, Mr Zarb should be reminded of those days when the Drydocks was run by the workers themselves – workers’ participation. The board was elected by the workers with GWU members Franz Spiteri and Sammy Meilaq being, in turn, elected by the employees as chairmen.

It was some time in the 1970s, under the Dom Mintoff regime, when the late Furtu Selvatico, a foreman of electricians and a staunch Nationalist, was elected to the board with a high number of votes (I do not remember whether in fact the highest). However, Mr Selvatico was never able to attend board meetings without incident since whenever he tried to enter the ’yard he had to be escorted by security guards. Eventually, he was beaten up before leaving the ’yard for the last time.

Mr Zarb might be interested to know (I don’t know if he is old enough to remember) that whenever there was a Labour government in office not a single Nationalist MP was ever able to visit the dockyard. In those days, as personnel manager, I had the easiest of times because the workers obeyed everything coming down from the workers’ management run by the Labour Party (the government) and GWU.

I ask: Who is and was hostile to whom?