Last week on the TV programme Inkontri, General Workers Union secretary general Tony Zarb said that the financial mire which Air Malta finds itself in is not something that came out of the blue, but the result of mistakes and bad decisions taken over the years.

Mr Zarb was seemingly referring to mistakes across the board – including different governments, different sets of management – and, mistakes by the General Workers Union.

The GWU secretary general was probably referring to the 1995 strike action ordered by the union. But he had the guts to admit it. The GWU is not the type of trade union that typically admits to having made mistakes in the past, but Mr Zarb struck the right chord in shouldering part of the collective responsibility for the mistakes of the past, saying that “mistakes were made, even on our part”. This shows that the union is ready to face up to the new realities that Air Malta will have to adapt to, if it is ever to get back on its own two feet, compete internationally and make money.

But on the other hand, Mr Zarb addressed Air Malta workers at the airport yesterday and made no mention of his comment to the employees. He told workers that they were not to blame and that they should not pay for the mistakes made by politicians and managers. These are very mixed signals, and to be frank, we do not agree with Mr Zarb’s assessment at all. Of course the workers have to shoulder part of the blame; and this we will explain later.

We cannot understand, though, how Mr Zarb admitted on television that even the union was to blame for the collective failure of Air Malta; only to then sing a different tune with the people the union is representing.

In order for Air Malta to be saved and returned to profitability, everyone, from the Prime Minister to the chairman to the check in clerk needs to acknowledge that this situation came about because of everyone involved.

And yes, that includes workers. It includes the bad decisions taken at a political level and it includes horrendous and repeated mistakes by the high level management of Air Malta. The airline was trying to operate on a model similar to the civil service – a job for life, perks galore and let us complain about being short (!) staffed. No wonder it finds itself where it does.

The union must explain this to the workers, and not just the GWU either. Each and every trade union involved must turn to their workers and explain that part of the problem is that they themselves (the unions) did not accept cuts when cuts needed to be made. They need to explain to workers that they (unions) and the employees themselves were greedy – milking a cow to the point of it almost dropping dead where it stands. Air Malta’s restructuring will require radical measures if it is to be saved and in order to implement radical measures, management and workers alike need to acknowledge the mistakes of the past if the company is ever to move forward.

There is a sea of difference between what is agreed on paper, and how a company actually operates. We hope that this message is put across and is understood.