In the shade of the majestic parliament building at the entrance of Valletta, the resident busker plays tunes to passers-by. “There's a Hole in the Bucket” caught my attention.  In a tit-for-tat, the duo song describes a deadlock situation between two characters. Henry got a leaky bucket, and Liza tells him to repair it. But to fix the leaky bucket, he needs straw. To cut the straw, he needs a knife. To sharpen the knife, he needs to whet the sharpening stone. To whet the stone, he needs water.  However, when Henry asks how to get the water, Lisa promptly replies "in a bucket". It is implied that only the leaky bucket is available, which, if it could carry water, would not need repairing in the first place.

The ceaseless deadlock between the major political parties is similar to the stalemate in the maxim of the song between Henry and Liza. Henry plays difficult to Liza’s request to fix the hole in the bucket, political parties give the impression they have off-the-shelf,tailor-made solutionsto suit all.

In reality they don’t. To be fair, none of us has. 

Although fixes and exceptionsto the selected few are made available.  Parliamentary Secretary Michael Falzon is a case in point. Dr Falzon has been spoilt with an ex-gratia payment of €266,000 from BOV. Indeed, Dr Falzon is entitled to benefit from an early retirement scheme offered by his employer. Irrespective of the amount which he pocketed, which is no small take, it is the principle adopted which should be scrutinised.

Although Dr Falzon opted for early retirement, he retained his reversion rights.The Parliamentary Secretary cannot have his cake and eat it too. It is one or the other, but he can’t have them both concurrently. If the Parliamentary Secretary wanted to secure his reversion rights in the event he is released or resigns from public office duties, he could have opted to take special leave without pay from BOV. Early retirement schemes or golden handshakes are, by nature, not designed to entertain workers. On the contrary, they are specifically planned to strikeoff workers from a company’s wage-bill.  

In this case, the BOV dished out thousands of euros and got nothing in return except an appeased Parliamentary Secretary andegg on its face. This deal left nothing but a bad taste in the mouths of workers, level-headed people and has infuriated BOV clients.

This situation becomes even more unjust when putting it into the local labour market context. Unfortunately, the GWU’s Union Print Co. Ltd recently announced an early retirement scheme in an attempt to make redundancies less painful to the workers concerned. The PL, the PN, and the Church had, at some point, all faced similar fates.  All had to close unprofitable sections of their business and had to declare a number of their workers redundant.

Undoubtedly, both political parties strive, in their own way, to improve the standard of living of all citizens. Similarly, the Church has a fountain of social teaching.  The GWU also professes to be a front-runner in defending workers’ rights.  Nonetheless, when push came to shove, all four had to declare redundancies. When the figures at the end of the financial year are not viable, there are no escape routes. Workers employability is the secret to combat redundancies. 

These are the hard facts in the labour market. 

Having the responsibility to inform workers that they are being laid off from employment due to redundancy is no easy task. It is the most unpleasant task on whichever side you sit - management or trade union. It is no piece of cake for those on the receiving end either.

Unfortunately, I have had to give such sad news to workers in different companies during Malta’s economic restructuring process in the 90s.During that decade, monopolies, protectionism and government subsidies were gradually dismantled.Malta’s economy was revolutionised. In that process, a number of companies closed shop. Thousands of workers were declared redundant.  In a short span of time, many found alternative productive employment, which mushroomed in new sectors of the economy. Our economy gradually shifted from the old labour-intensive industries to more lucrative value-added employment opportunities, though the employment challenge remains high.  

But going back to Henry’s and Liza’s silly disagreement, Dr Falzon’s appeasement and the early retirement scheme offered by the GWU business armshow that the bucket is leaking profusely.