When general secretary Tony Zarb retires in a few weeks’ time, he will have been the longest-serving in the General Workers’ Union’s 72-year history. Vanessa Macdonald asked about some of the controversial episodes of his 16 years.

Is it just my impression or have you been remarkably quiet since Labour came to power? In 2013 there were no strikes, compared to two or three in previous years.

We did not organise industrial action because we found a government that listens. With the previous Nationalist governments, we used to have a lot of unrest which used to strain industrial relations. We would have to sweat blood just to get a meeting with the minister. Decisions were taken that we simply could not accept. One of the most important was the threat to ban sympathy strikes.

We have had disputes and strikes since this government came to power – for example, two strikes on public transport and directives to health workers – but they did not spread to a national level because we had no reason to stamp our feet! Should we object because the government reduced water and electricity rates? Because the economy is doing well?

But I can assure you with hand on heart that if there are any issues, we will do so.

Since the Drydocks shut down, the GWU has taken a much less militant stand­...

Times have changed and we have changed. The GWU has changed constantly in its 72 years; God forbid that were not the case.

Twenty years ago we would not have even dreamed of considering management to be a social partner; our members would have lynched us. It took perseverance to persuade them otherwise ...

The reduction in number of strikes is not a Maltese phenomenon but something seen in many countries. We are a modern trade union, one that negotiates around a table, trying to get the best for its members. But we make it clear when there is something we do not agree with, and will take industrial action if necessary.

The Drydocks closed in spite of a promise that it would not. The first time we met then-minister Tonio Fenech, he told us that the government did not intend to close the Drydocks – but that is exactly what it did. They were not honest with us. And this is why we had trouble: the government would say one thing but do another.

You claim to have 43,000 members. There is scepticism that membership reports are unsubstantiated or inflated by including veterans. What happened to the verification exercise by the Department of Industrial and Employment Relations?

Every year, we send a report to the Director of Labour, as we are bound to do by law.

The next register will show that we have added thousands of members. In the past two years, workers from no fewer than 68 companies have joined the GWU, such as Lufthansa and the Freeport.

We have taken a number of steps to attract other sectors. We have a section for professionals, for example, and we are accepting associated members, such as the police, soldiers and prison wardens, the Pork Breeders Cooperative and so on.

The GWU has to keep changing to keep up with the times, and that is what I will tell dele-gates when I leave.

There were disputes at both Freeport and Lufthansa over union recognition. How can the system improve? The MEA said that ballots are not proof of membership and wants the numbers of paid-up members.

Ballots are the best way. If two unions are both claiming recognition, then there should be a ballot, which takes only a few weeks. The ballots at the Freeport and Lufthansa were not organised by the unions – although they were able to monitor it – and the result was accepted by all involved.

We have forms to prove who was already a GWU member and also forms for those resigning from the UĦM and joining the GWU now that we won recognition.

The UĦM and the GWU are clearly rivals for membership. Are you negotiating to beat what other trade unions believe they can get – rather than what the business can sustain?

Not the GWU. We do not do such things; this is the UĦM’s tactic.

We take into consideration how the company is doing. I can assure you that there were times when – for the good of the company – we were talking to the management about certain measures and the UĦM came along to lobby for workers by promising that it would not accept these measures ...

A race for membership is not a problem – as long as it is a fair race. The Freeport was a UĦM stronghold, but a delegation of six workers approached us. The first thing I asked them was why. And they said they believed that they were not getting what they wanted through the UĦM.

That phrase alarms me... “what they wanted” ...

There are things that that had been pending for seven years without resolution. We sorted them out in a few weeks ... The same thing happened at Lufthansa Technik: they came to us ...

There have been calls to review the Employment and Industrial Relations Act. What is happening at MCESD?

Next to nothing. It has not been reviewed since the 1990s and we should be talking about what needs to be changed. We can only cross our fingers and hope that there will be the sort of discussion we had in the 1990s, which resulted in consensus. This will prob-ably be one of the first issues to be handled by my successor, Josef Bugeja.

The US navy ship, La Salle, at the Drydocks in 2003. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi

GWU officials have not yet been summoned by the Permanent Commission Against Corruption to testify on claims that the contracts undertaken by Malta Shipyards on the Fairmount Fjell and the Fjord were shady. You claim that the shipyards made losses of €80 million.

The Commission Against Corruption had summoned Sammy Meilaq, from the GWU’s Metal and Construction Section, where he laid before the Commission very important documents regarding the case. Today, we have no idea if the Commission is even meeting. Nonetheless, we are still calling for a public and independent inquiry about the Fairmount.

My most important achievement was keeping the GWU going through 25 years of Nationalist government

What are your relations now with Palumbo, which took over the ’yards?

Very bad. There was no communication with Palumbo since after the meeting we had in the presence of Malta Employers’ Association (MEA) officials. We are today convinced that yard workers are very reluctant to join the GWU as they fear repercussions on their employment.

Palumbo is employing a number of foreigners, even though there are competent Maltese. We also have major doubts as to whether he is complying with all the terms and obligations of the concession. Did he take equipment from the yards here to his other yards? I haven’t seen the agreement but I doubt that it would have allowed him to do so!

For years, the Drydocks made a loss. Now you have Palumbo who is getting contracts and making money. Isn’t that better? Isn’t this partly due to the fact that there was not enough flexibility before?

There is a difference between flexibility and exploiting workers. We have no problem with the former and had agreed with the Nationalist government on introducing this in the ‘yards.

In 2001 the union did not want to work on the US navy ship, the La Salle, because of concerns over the islands’ Constitutional neutrality, but in 2003 it had no reservations about the $7.7 million contract. What was different?

We agreed to do the work both in 2001 and 2003.

In 2001, only after a showdown with the Prime Minister ...

There was a long discussion within our national council about both contracts. And it was felt that the work could go ahead under certain conditions.

We are missing out on a considerable amount of navy ships because we have not signed the State of Forces Agreement with the US. Do you feel that the theoretical possibility of it being abused is worth the loss of revenue?

We need a discussion on this at a national level, not only with the government and Opposition but also with trade unions. A solution needs to be found so that revenue is not lost.

We should not accept work under all circumstances, nor at any cost ... Personally, I do not agree that ships and planes involved in a war – wherever it may be – should be repaired here. We should not rush things; the government should consult on this issue.

One of the lowest points of your career must surely have been the privatisation of the national shipping line Sea Malta in 2005, after 16 months of failed negotiations.

I always said that Sea Malta closed because of former minister Austin Gatt. We gave him our proposals on how it could be saved but he was negotiating behind our backs with Grimaldi. His intention was always to bring its back to the wall so that he could give it to them ... It was not my fault or the GWU’s.

So you are admitting that in both the Fairmount and the Sea Malta cases, the GWU was outmanoeuvred by the government. It means you were very naïve ...

One of my shortcomings was that we went there with an open mind to discuss and the Nationalist government was not genuine. When they said that it wanted to sort things out, I believed them ... It always knew what it wanted, whether we were talking about Sea Malta, Air Malta or the Drydocks.

What is really happening at Air Malta?

We are ready to discuss with the government and the company, just as we did with the previous government. The discussions should find a way for it to carry on operating without workers losing their jobs.

We have not been contacted about the possibility of a strategic partner. If the government finds someone who could save the airline and its jobs as a minority shareholder, then we think we could find a way forward.

A strategic partner would almost certainly want to reduce the workforce, just as Go and HSBC did ... What would your stand be if the options were to reduce the workforce or shut down the airline?

Over 800 workers had already been cut from the workforce over the past four years. We do not believe Air Malta is far from its ideal headcount. You cannot compare it to other airlines: it provides other services like engin-eering, and many of its workers are seasonal.

We heard it will start to use its planes for more hours every day – including night flights. This means it will need more people. And Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis has confirmed there would be no redundancies.

You have heard this so often before: do you believe this government?

Heaven forbid they do not keep their word!

The setting up of the Malta Dockers’ Union in 2006 must also have been a thorn, representing the loss of 312 port workers previously your members ... What could have been done differently?

There were people within the union who wanted this exodus. They waited for the right moment – when I was not in Malta – and acted then.

Five years ago, there was a ballot among dockers, supervised by lawyer Ian Refalo, and they declared clearly that they wanted the GWU. But the government did not recognise the ballot and asked the Director of Labour to check on the situation, but no numbers were ever made public ...

We have now got very good relations with the MDU’s new council.

You were the first union to raise the issue of precarious work. Has anything changed?

I irst spoke about it in the context of the construction industry. It affected me personally as a number of threats were made, including death threats – I suspect by someone involved in the construction industry. There were many episodes during my tenure as general secretary when I had to have a policeman posted outside my door.

But I refused to back down and we started to try to sort things out with the Nationalist government. We have made significant inroads since the Labour government came to power. But there is much left to be done. I can assure you that the GWU will keep this issue on the front burner.

What was your greatest success? What was your greatest failure?

I will start with the second. There were occasions when I went to discuss important things with the Nationalist government and it said one thing but did something else. I think I trusted them more than I should have.

The most important achievement in my career was keeping the union going through 25 years of Nationalist government.