In defence of Maltese workers

Michael Parnis, deputy secretary general of the General Workers' Union (November 12), totally missed the point I made in my article on the subject of acting like colonial subjects.

I did not enter into the merits of what a government minister said or did not say but instead argued that we should not involve EU bodies in our domestic scrapes, which, incidentally, translated in Maltese should read tilwim ta' bejnietna or something similar and not skart (waste) as Mr Parnis told his l-orizzont readers on November 11.

Comments by a minister are part and parcel of the dialogue which should and indeed does take place in any democratic country. If the GWU felt so strongly about what the minister said, then it should have raised the matter with the social partners and got them to agree on censoring the minister and not run crying to Brussels, giving the impression that we are incapable of dealing with the daily political and social banter.

In his letter, Mr Parnis took the opportunity to boast about the part played by the GWU in international affairs. Pity that the same GWU didn't have the courage to stand up to such acclaimed standards when workers' rights were trampled upon by past Labour governments. That was the time when the GWU should have stood firm and asked for international reaction but it did not. As a result, the workers did not find their supposed defenders behind them.

Mr Parnis argues that there is an undermining of Maltese workers and Maltese institutions. The efforts to reach a social pact between the government and social partners before last year's budget were scuppered primarily by the attitude adopted by the GWU.

However, the social dialogue with social partners continued and indeed it was widened to the extent that for the first time the government issued a pre-budget statement, which the social partners had the opportunity to examine and comment upon. The validity of the social dialogue has been made amply clear by the Prime Minister in his budget speech which is peppered with references to points agreed by the social partners.

What's more, Lawrence Gonzi extended this dialogue to include all citizens when he met thousands of Maltese and Gozitans to hear their views on any point they wished to raise. The government needs no request from me or anyone else to re-affirm its commitment to social dialogue with the social partners.

Mr Parnis again totally distorts the contents of my article when he claims that "it is interesting to note that Mr Felice Pace is the only one who has come out in defence of Dr (Austin) Gatt after the statement he made". And he adds for good measure that I almost blessed the minister's statement. These are just meaningless words as I never entered into the merits of what Dr Gatt said.

Then he invites me to support social dialogue. Of course I do and I do believe that one of the major reasons why social dialogue with the social partners in Malta is difficult to succeed is the GWU's allegiance to the MLP and the two-weights-two-measures approach adopted by the union according to whether the Nationalist Party or the Labour Party is in government.

The latest striking example is the way in which the GWU reacted to the recent rise in the electricity and water surcharge caused by an astronomical rise in fuel prices. When Alfred Sant had introduced his uncalled for charges plus a charge on each household, the GWU had just ordered a report. Did it ever see the light of day?

Mr Parnis betrays very poor understanding of EU institutions. He confuses the role of MEPs with that of national representatives on EU bodies. The European Parliament is way above these bodies, indeed it is part of the authority structure of the EU. By claiming that when MEPs raise matters in the EP (according to my argument) they act like colonial subjects he shows he is not aware of the difference between MEPs, who are elected by a sovereign electorate and those who, like himself, are appointed on EU bodies.

I do hope that when the European Economic Social Committee considers Mr Parnis's letter all members will also be aware of the GWU's past.

The GWU has not as yet renounced the privileged status Dr Sant intends to bestow upon it if he is elected Prime Minister. Instead of wasting time in Brussels fighting useless and phantom battles, Mr Parnis will be more gainfully employed putting right the glaring problems within his trade union.