One may wonder what the Malta Drydocks and the white taxis have to do with each other, except that last week they both hit the headlines. In the case of the Drydocks, the news was that discussions between the government and the General Workers' Union ended up in a deadlock, with the government declaring there is not much scope for further discussion since the union did not wish to link wage increases to increases in productivity and profitability.

In the case of the white taxis, the news was that their owners decided to block the exit from the quay where a cruise ship was berthed, thereby not allowing tourists to make their way around the island using whatever means of transport they wished to.

In effect, these two bits of news have more in common than just the fact they both hit the headlines. They deal with the most basic economic issue that this country is facing.

We could argue till we go blue in the face about the fiscal deficit, who is responsible for it and what the government can do to reduce it to sustainable levels. We could equally argue about a number of issues ranging from health and safety at work to the welfare gap, to pensions to the provision oh health services.

However, none of these issues really go to the very foundations of what we all should be worried about - our ability to satisfy our customers in whatever line of business profitably.

The case of the white taxis and their action is a typical example of our inability to do just that. Here we had a cruise liner which called into Malta unexpectedly. It should have been a godsend to a number of businesses, mainly those in Valletta, be they coffee shops, gift shops, cabby drivers, restaurants, etc. Instead it turned out to be a nightmare in the light of day for the ship's captain and for the passengers.

The owners of the white taxis did not allow the coaches that were meant to be taking the passengers up to Valletta to get out from the zone of the quay to the public road.

They did this because they felt that coaches were taking their business away.

The result may be easily imagined. The passengers, that is our customers who pay for our bread, butter and jam, ended up stranded on the ship for a considerable time, wondering what country they had come to and whether they would like to come back to it (considering that the visit was an unexpected one).

The ship's captain would have sent a report to the owners of the cruise liner that Malta should definitely not be the country their ships should call on until they sort out whether they would really like to have cruise ships in their port.

The owners of the white taxis may or may not have been right to protest. I am sure they did not want to annoy the cruise passengers and the ship's captain. But the end result is that we had a large number of unsatisfied customers; and we are all worse off for it.

Frankly, the fiscal deficit and the taxes we have to pay to make up for it pale into insignificance, given the damage that has been done to our efforts to become a major player in the cruise market in the Mediterranean and given the impact that this incident would have in general in our quest to create employment in the country.

The Drydocks may seem to be another story, but it is not. It focuses on one keyword in the statement made above - our ability to satisfy customers profitably.

Here we have a situation where it does not appear that customers are particularly unhappy about the service they get from this company, even if at times there have been occasions when there were delays in the completion of contracted works.

However, because of excessive labour, inefficient work practices, and other reasons, the Drydocks is incapable, with its current set-up, to be profitable.

It would be easy for anyone to blame everyone else for this situation. However, inefficient work practices exist because someone proposed them and someone else accepted them.

Nevertheless, the issue still remains that the company is not profitable and is therefore not in a position to attract business. This inability to attract business would in turn have an impact on the creation of employment in Malta. Thus, both the issue of the Drydocks and the issue of the white taxis have the same impact - a threat to jobs.

In effect, this is the choice that we have to make in the coming months. There are a million ways of making up for the fiscal deficit just as there are a million ways of how to skin a cat. But the primary way of addressing the fiscal deficit is through employment and, therefore, it is this issue that should remain the top priority for our economy. This means that we need to address those issues that pose a threat to jobs and hinder us from satisfying our customers profitably.