The next logical step

Just over a month ago, when Dr Eddie Fenech Adami was addressing the general conference of the Union Haddiema Maghqudin, he pointed out that the establishment of a social pact between Government, unions and employers is the next logical step. At the very outset of his speech, he had told the general conference that that was the last time that he was addressing them as Prime Minister.

A few days earlier, the union was presenting the first copy of its proposed social pact document that has been drawn up by experts to Professor Guido de Marco as President of Malta.

A month later Malta has a new prime minister and Dr Fenech Adami is President. In less than a week, Malta becomes a member of the European Union.

In the meantime, the country is going through new challenges and opportunities. Restructuring at such public entities as the Drydocks, Malta Shipbuilding, Air Malta, PBS and Interprint is part of a process that is aimed at ensuring the sustainability of such enterprises and of the country as a whole. We are living in a more open and competitive market where there are no quick-fix solutions such as simply pumping in more public money wherever anything goes wrong.

Becoming more sustainable as a country is equivalent to placing our economy on a sound footing and securing our future. It means that we would have been able to face facts and take whatever decisions are necessary in the national interest.

There is no point in postponing difficult decisions since the choice is often enough between undergoing a surgical intervention that unpleasant as it might be, ends up saving lives, or simply trying to ignore the problem until it is too late to even attempt any form of cure or treatment.

A country that is capable of facing truth in the face will emerge the stronger for it. This is a process that requires all the social partners to work together. Anybody trying to secure short-term gains is the worst loser at the end. On the contrary, acting together and doing so in time only leads to a win-win solution. Reaching that solution requires maturity, courage and above all leadership from all the parties concerned.

The UHM will tomorrow be organising a round table to discuss their social pact document. They are being pro-active and sensible. One does not have to agree with all the details of the UHM document, but one has to acknowledge that this is an initiative in the right direction and the union did not simply put pen to paper to give a format to its wish lists or ideas, but actually engaged experts to formulate an objective and tangible basis for a healthy discussion that should bring to one forum all social partners as well as all social forces.

I know that when UHM drew up their document, they planned to have the basis for a new social pact by the end of the year. This will partly depend on the input that can be made by other bodies that should criticise, make alternative suggestions, even propose amendments, and bring up matters that they do not consider sufficiently covered, in a discussion that leads to a social pact that takes account of the new realities and the historic juncture through which we are moving.

It is on that basis that we can evaluate better the action that needs to be taken between now and whatever time frames are established for the different goals that the country requires as a whole.

A social pact does not try to emulate the more old-fashioned form of bargaining between trade unions and employers where the gains of one side are the losses of the other. Much less does such a pact come about through tough antics, useless rhetoric or crying wolf.

Such a pact comes about through sensible dialogue and proactive participation by all the parties involved. It represents a new form of a decision making process that blends particularly well with the manner in which policies are adopted by the European Union and its various institutions.

A well drawn up social pact is the best guarantee of making the most of our human resources. It is also required to create wealth, to get the best out of business, workers and government. I firmly believe that we need to go well beyond the mentality where we gauge our satisfaction at a place of work merely by the size of the take home pay that our job produces.

Our satisfaction has to be gauged first and foremost by ensuring that our work leads to the results expected out of the efforts that can be put in by each and every one of us, and that we can then genuinely associate with the results achieved. It means going back home after a long day's work knowing that you have really made a positive difference, that the community as a whole has gained through what you have produced or done.

When Government set up the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development, it had sought to bring together all social partners in the formulation of future policy and understand that the best results can only be achieved through the synergy that can be created between all of them. It was and remains a tool that helps all the persons around the same table to see the whole picture, broaden horizons rather than restrict oneself to one point of view or perspective.

The whole picture and not fragments thereof is the only logical viewpoint that can give birth to the new social pact that is called for.

It was originally Jean-Jacques Rousseau who in 1762 referred to his theory of the Social Contract. He pointed out that liberty and equality can be re-established by a new social pact of all and with all, willingly accepted, obeying the volonté générale (general will), which alone has total sovereignty. In this way passive subjects of the state become active citizens who are zealous for the public good.

What is then particularly interesting about Rousseau's theory is that this act is not enough on its own since it requires a moral transformation, whereby men use their reason properly, in an exercise of selfless virtue.

The pact assumes its most binding character not so much because of its contractual element, but because it is based on reason and values prevailing. Through the pact, Rousseau was defending freedom.

The new social pact that is called for in our country as we go through a phase of transformation is equally one that needs to be based on reason, on the common good, on searching for those higher values that prevent us from being enslaved by selfishness, by not caring for what society requires of us and what in turn gives us more satisfaction and more freedom.

Taking full stock of realities in 2004, the UHM document points out that given the increasingly globalised nature of the world economy and given Malta's economic integration with the EU, the issue of attaining and enhancing competitiveness has now become the major challenge for Malta. The document adds, "If we do not attain the necessary level of competitiveness we risk losing out on the opportunities of EU membership and subsequently becoming marginalised in the world economy."

This is considered a top priority which will enable all Maltese citizens to enjoy a high quality of life and to continue to raise their standard of living.

The second priority area is indicated as increasing efficiency of the labour market where the challenge is to ensure efficient use of human resources. That in turn includes a higher employment rate yielding a higher economic output.

Other priorities include promoting innovation where the challenge is to establish a firm link between research, education and industry; reducing bureaucracy; providing a stable economic framework and enhancing our tourism product.

Once the different points of view are ventilated and discussed in an open manner, one can only hope that we will be able to take the next logical step and establish a new social pact, again based on reason and the common good.

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