Trade unionism in Malta is currently passing through turbulent times. With the exception of the General Workers’ Union, unions have expressed their concern about the fact that they were kept in the dark by the government on the deal concerning the transfer of the concession to run three State hospitals for 30 years to Steward Healthcare, following its original award to Vitals Global Healthcare in November 2015 by then minister for health Konrad Mizzi.

The Medical Association of Malta has accused the government of a breach of the collective agreement reached just a week before the last election, when it failed to consult the union on the acquisition deal by Steward Healthcare.

There has also been the case where the Malta Union of Teachers was forced to call off strike action at Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology, after the college filed an urgent warrant of prohibitory injunction with the Civil Court that was provisionally upheld.

A similar warrant was recently filed by Air Malta after an overwhelming number of pilot members of the Airline Pilots Association (Alpa) voted to take industrial action, following alleged serious threats and intimidation by the company’s management against one of its members.

Here one notes that Alpa’s right to strike has already been challenged in court in July 2016, when Air Malta had filed a similar warrant to stop the union from taking industrial action in protest at the delays over the renewal of its members’ collective agreement. The Civil Court had provisionally upheld the warrant. However, the Court of Appeal overturned the decision saying that the airline had no right to stop a union from taking legitimate industrial action in the best interest of its members, noting that this right was guaranteed by the Constitution and the European Convention and could not in any way depend on the company’s financial situation.

When Alpa was negotiating the collective agreement on behalf of its members with Air Malta, before an agreement was actually reached, an attempt was made by the management to overcome the deadlock by offering pilots a tax-free status on part of their salary. This proposal was turned down by the Finance Ministry that considered it to be illegal.

Following this, Mizzi resorted to underhand tactics by bypassing Alpa as the workers’ representative trade union, and sending personalised letters to its members urging them to accept the same proposals that had been turned down by their union.

Instead of using the legal machinery provided by the Employment and Industrial Relations Act for the settlement of trade disputes, the minister opted to resort to the old political stratagem of divide and rule, thus violating the spirit of article 28 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and article 6 of the European Social Charter.

The minister, who is a product of Muscat-style New Labour, has through his actions turned the clock back more than 40 years, to a time when Dom Mintoff reigned supreme in the 1970s. Similar tactics were used at the time by the government of the day with the aim of weakening and possibly eliminating the trade union movement in Malta, with the exception of the General Workers’ Union, that was allowed to thrive.

This situation had been clearly exposed by strong public declarations against pluralism in trade unionism that were repeatedly made by Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici, Mintoff’s deputy leader.

Konrad Mizzi, who is a product of Muscat-style New Labour, has through his actions turned the clock back more than 40 years

An onslaught on the trade unions in the country was in fact carried out in the 1970s by Mintoff’s Labour government with the help of the GWU, that came close to destroying these unions. The two quarters became statutorily fused and formed action committees between them to break legitimate industrial actions taken by the unions against a deterioration in working conditions imposed by the government.

Now once again in 2018 trade union rights have been put under siege by Mizzi, who made no scruple to launch a harsh attack on Alpa during the opportunity given to him by the signing of a collective agreement with the GWU on behalf of other Air Malta staff members.

The minister’s personalised letter to the pilots brings back to mind a declaration that was presented in 1977 to public officers and parastatal corporations employees for their signature, whereby they were forced to accept to give up their right of resorting to partial industrial action. At that time a circular was issued by the Office of the Prime Minister, which said the government did no longer recognise the right to partial industrial action.

Employees who refused to sign this declaration on the directive of their trade union were suspended from work, while a number of workers who participated in various industrial actions were similarly suspended or transferred to another department in retribution. At the same time, the government used labour corps, which were subject to military discipline, as strike-breakers.

Back to the present time, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has not shown himself to be against the way that the pilots’ collective agreement negotiations were handled by the responsible minister. Just as he had seen nothing wrong about the fact that this same minister and his chief of staff had set up offshore financial structures through which they could conceal their wealth and evade tax.

Muscat has also fired veiled threats against Alpa and its members saying that the government had alternatives in hand should the union refuse the terms of the new collective agreement.

Similar threats were made by the Labour government on June 2, 1977, against medical doctors working in the public sector who took industrial action on a directive of the Medical Association of Malta. On that same day, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had said it would bring doctors from foreign countries to work in government hospitals.

At that time Mintoff exposed persons who opposed his government’s ways of doing things as enemies of the State and oppressors of progress. He exploited class division and political belief and used his charisma to instil hatred in Labour supporters and keep them mobilised against other citizens whom he portrayed as their adversaries.

The Labour’s administration of the 1970s and 1980s was characterised by blatant corruption and wide-ranging bribery on basic commodities and services such as colour televisions, telephone lines and electricity connections. Labour politicians of that time protected criminals and allowed the perpetration of political violence. Mintoff himself could be seen flanked by thugs responsible for such violence when he addressed mass meetings.

Similarly, under Muscat’s premiership Malta has experienced a culture of corruption and an endless chain of scams and scandals involving certain high echelons. The Police Commissioner has attributed the failure of the police to investigate serious suspicions raised by the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit  (FIAU) of kickbacks and money laundering involving Muscat’s chief of staff.

Mintoff was a tough talking and acting man who demonstrated his extreme arrogance and intolerance to divergent opinions by his well-known battle cry: “Those not with us are against us.” Muscat, on the contrary, has been capable of conveying a humble image of himself and has used catchy campaign slogans of unity that have been shown to be nothing more than a smoke screen for lies.

The country’s situation is as desperate as it was in the 1970s - if not more.

Denis Tanti is a former assistant director (industrial and employment relations) in the Ministry for Health.