Front-page news this week. Headlines in all the morning papers screaming at us “Historic union meeting today”. At the end of this “historic” day the lead story in all radio and television news bulletins was that the unions had agreed to speak to the government with one voice – united as they have never been.

So what else is new? The unions, acting in unison, have produced a package, an alternative to the reduction of four days leave, which they have now presented to government. The moment was surrounded with solemnity. Because of the “delicate” times we are living in, the components of MCESD agreed that no one should speak to anyone in the press for at least 48 hours until government could give its reaction to these solemn proposals. Sssshhhhhhhhhh…….

Was I impressed with this sudden warmth of the unions for one another? No I was not. Why? My gut feeling that not all the unions want to lead Malta onto a path of peaceful negotiation until solutions are found strengthens with each passing incident.

The four days leave measure initiated by the government is just one miniscule measure that will contribute infinitesimally to the solution of the gigantic problems Malta has at the moment trying to establish itself in the global marketplace as a recognised, valid player.

My feeling is that not all unions have yet accustomed themselves to accept that if we are to compete in this globalised world, in which a country such as China is now a major player, we have to change our ways, denude ourselves of antiquated work practices, make sacrifices similar to those other countries have asked of their citizens and practically re-invent ourselves.

The task ahead is huge, perhaps the heaviest burden this country has been required to carry for a long time. Can the government do it alone? I hope not. My sincere hope is that in the final analysis all the components of our society will accept their responsibility concerning the national interest and finally put their shoulder to the wheel together with the government of the day.

This will be a long process that will encompass much more than just this legislature. It will be a whole new way of looking at ourselves in the national mirror.

The government’s attention to competitivity is not new, but we must now deal with the issue with greater vigour and with fresh new ideas on how we can turn this problem round in order to improve our position in this field. Unions have repeatedly demanded increases and got them. Any attempt to match wage increases with increases in productivity have been resisted. Therefore, while our product has increased in cost, there has been little or no increase in productivity. With each notch on the stick, as one year followed another, we have been falling behind as opposed to competing countries that have managed to increase wages but also increased their productivity rate so the cost of the product did not increase. This has happened throughout Europe and in the United States.

Now the chips are down and, because our governments did not deal with these issues with enough force as they should have at the time, this administration is faced with a monumental task. In tackling a job of this magnitude, that of reinventing our economy, there could be a huge political price to pay because our people are not mentally geared to feel for the well being of their country, only for the well-being of their small patch – themselves and their immediate family.

No citizen in our country will ever be convinced by anyone that he or she has a duty to give when the economic safety of his country is at stake. To instil this belief even more in people’s minds, the government offered an alleged solution that travelled on one track only, the track on which only the workers are travelling.

Unions have been complaining from the time the government showed an inclination to accept a proposal made by the Federation of Industry that workers would not be paid for the first day of their sick leave. At that time the unions were already accusing the government of asking only the workers to make the sacrifice.

Then whoops! The government did it again, playing the macho at the same time and bringing to the forefront the state of agitation that we have experienced in the last week or so. I keep saying that, certainly as regards PR, this government has a great deal to learn.

To complicate matters there will be those the voter left behind to nurse their wounds in the opposition who will continue to distort, to lick the wounds of the citizen as the measures begin to hurt and to fire the man in the street with illicit desires to resist the powers that be.

The world has changed and it didn’t take 50 years to do so. It changed because of Internet trade, e-commerce. It changed because nations joined together in huge groupings like the EU, became more efficient, cut waste, reorganised their finances and generally gave themselves a new profile in the way they went about their business. It was not done without pain.

The opposite is true. Just look at Germany today and the problems it is going through. The world has changed also because terrorism has shown a face that is more ugly than anything we had seen before. Companies, big and small, the world over have been adjusting themselves to play in a market that is no longer restricted to their area and its environs but to the world at large.

Suddenly we found ourselves living out of the fish bowl, exposed to anything and everything. When we should have been fiercely swimming with or against the current, we were cocooned in a false sense of security, thinking and perhaps believing that because we are small our problems will also be related to our size.

It has been said that the four days’ leave was Dr Gonzi’s way of testing the waters to see how hot they could become. The four days’ leave is nothing compared to the sacrifices we should be making as a nation if we want to be accepted as a worthy trading partner by anyone on this planet.

Those four days raised hell, brought people out in the streets and will do so again when Sant has his day. Dr Gonzi knows more than anyone else that in spite of government propaganda about the four days leave being a contribution to the solution; the measures he needs to take are draconian, will hurt people and may cost him the next election.

If he implements what needs to be done he will be one of our heroes in history, but the price tag that comes with that exercise will be extremely high for himself and for the party he leads.

We are not alone in facing these dilemmas. There have been quite a few other countries that produced components of the civil society who tossed their noses in the air and refused to recognise the dire circumstances their countries were facing. Most of those countries are in good shape now and provide us with a clear example of what we are to expect.

Countries like Finland, France, Spain and Ireland went through the same labour pains we are going through today. Unions separated into their own patch of turf and refused to budge. The national interest was thrown to the wolves as they declared their determination to resist, in order to ensure that the gains of the past were not squandered by “repressive governments”.

The end result was that the economies of those countries continued to spiral downwards until, under the weight of compounded problems, these countries felt they were being crushed to a pulp. It was by staring death in the face that convinced the components of these societies that the game was over.

The message was loud and clear. If they were not going to join hands and, with a firm hand on the steering wheel, make a superhuman effort to save themselves, each one giving and not taking, they faced nothing short of total, national disaster.

I have a feeling that this is what lies in store for us. It is never too late to realise that there is such a thing as the national interest that should override all other interests in facing a future that is more uncertain today that it has ever been.

Some of our unions still make a big deal out of the fact that they have found could adjust to each other and are now able to sit together and discuss civilly. That is no big deal. That is what our unions should have been doing for years had there not been elements in that camp which may have been trying to serve heaven and the devil at one and the same time.

There may be hidden agendas in there. Are we expected to look the other way as if we haven’t noticed the mutual back scratching? That having been said, I don’t believe these unions are capable of producing anything acceptable to those whose gargantuan task is to reinvent the country.

I am not saying that in order to put its best foot forward this government may not play along and behave as if they can accept whatever proposals are put forward. I wouldn’t put it past the Prime Minster to make believe that here was national unity in the making, accept some puny proposal from the unions in order to draw them into a social pact, which is what this country really needs.

But this Prime Minster knows that considering the size of the job facing his government in the next few years, not even a social pact may be enough for this nation to do what it should be doing to bite the bullet in industry, in tourism, in Financial services, in bringing in new technologies, in creating new jobs, in lowering our costs, in providing modern, efficient marketing for our products, in putting a stop to tax evasion, in bringing in new investment, in exploiting the few advantages we have as a nation in order to keep our heads above water.

I am an optimist by nature. I have strong feeling that the Jeremiahs in our society will eventually be defeated. It will take time and a great deal of understanding from our people of what it is going to take to bring this country back into the black.

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