She [Minister Dr the Hon. Helena Dalli] said that:
"[she] took exception to an article by Andrew Borg Cardona, one of the authors of the report, particularly to a comment that the current administration was “a bunch of clowns caught napping”.
This, from the summary I read, was the gist of what she said about little me in the House during the debate on the amendments urgently needed to the Employment & Industrial Relations Act.
I actually said, in my ex-Beck column that sees the light of day of a Saturday and appears to irritate the Great and Good no end, to the extent that they dedicate time to me in the House, where they can say what they like, as follows:
”The government, mainly in the form of Minister Helena Dalli, was caught napping, although the now-confirmed judgements had been handed down over six months ago and, as usual with this bunch of clowns, they went into defensive mode, saying that it was a PN law that had been declared unconstitutional."
I also said that "My only reaction is to point out that they’re a bunch of lying clowns".
This doesn't seem to have perturbed La Dalli, understandably since she herself hadn't told any porkies.
It was someone else entirely who had tried to give the lying impression that the law was one that the PN had passed, when it is well known, and well explained in my column, that it was materially a 1976, Mintoffian, law.
This all needs some retort, and since I'm unable to make my voice heard in the House, not being an elected (or electable) Honourable Member, this blog will have to suffice.
The report to which the Honourable Lady was referring was one that I, along with a couple of other worthies, had penned for the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development, something in the region of six or so years ago or something like that.
I have good reason to believe that La Dalli had no knowledge of this report except since a couple of days ago. It covered a number of topics, only one of which was the Industrial Tribunal, on which we were not a million miles from the suggestions everyone is now making and to which The Hon. Ms Dalli does not appear to be listening.
In any event, circumstances change and what was certainly not urgent then has become urgent now.
For all The Hon. La Dalli's protestations, she was indeed caught napping, because during the six or so months since the Constitutional Court of First Instance had pronounced itself, she did zilch, nada, rien, xejn, and nothing to prepare for the eventuality that Court of Appeal would, as it did, confirm the judgement.
So when Ms La Dalli MP tries to imply that it is not true that she and her government were caught napping, she is being disingenuous, because it is clear that they were not prepared for the turn of events that led to where we are now.
If they had been prepared, they wouldn't have come up with the band-aid fix that they've concocted, which everyone with an ounce of sense can see fails to address the problem.
And La Dalli's further protestations that the people who matter have been working on the law and on changing it have something of a hollow ring to them, too.
No-one, as far as I can see, and I can see clearly, was working on this particular aspect of the law in any great depth, because if they had been, we'd have seen suggestions for amendments from the Employment Relations Board that actually address the problem and not try to find a work-around, and one that, to make matters worse and unless La Dalli is careful, might well lead her up the garden path towards another Constitutional case.
And that would be in no-one's interest, would it?
Instead of all this posturing and pointing fingers, shouldn't some time be taken to engage the social partners meaningfully to come up with a real solution?
Maybe some other bunch of clowns might have an idea that is worth adopting, after all.