The dispute between Enemalta and the General Workers’ Union is yet more proof that in Malta, we do not know how to solve an issue without threats, provocation and confrontation.

In the end, both Enemalta and the union came to an amicable agreement, but not without the usual gauntlet being thrown down by both sides, resulting in workers being suspended and the GWU threatening to order nation-wide industrial action. Not exactly the climate we need in our country right now.

The General Workers’ Union might have been right in saying that it should be itself that faced up to issuing directives in breach of the Enemalta collective agreement, if that was indeed the case, and not the workers who obeyed them.

However, the union’s confrontational, provocative and threatening behaviour does no one any favours. The union has said that the directives issued to Enemalta employees at the Refuelling and Generation Divisions might have been in breach of the collective agreement binding the parties. Yet, said the union, the workers should not be expected to question the directives they are following and if the case warrants it, it should be the union itself to take the flak and not employees. This was true and a sensible and reasoned argument.

Yet, this issue, regarding some 60 employees, should not have escalated to such an extent. To put things into perspective, the union ordered these employees not fill in forms to account for the refuelling of aircraft at the Malta International Airport.

The government in turn sought legal advice and was told that the action resulted in the breach of an international safety agreement and when these workers returned to work a couple of days later, they were informed that they were suspended.

The GWU contended that the government should not have suspended the workers. Yet this is an issue that was, in the end, easily solved around the discussion table. Is this an issue which should have escalated to national levels? The answer is definitely in the negative. The union threatened sympathy action around Malta and to take the issue onto the streets. This, considering the unrest that is already prevailing in the industrial relations sector over the public holidays issue, will not do anyone any favours.

Ordering sympathy action in both the public and private sectors would have created a situation where Malta would be brought to a standstill. The Malta Employers Association issued a letter in which it said that it would take retaliatory action if this happened, with the union retorting that it would then take the issue to the streets.

Is this all really necessary? All Malta’s trade unions, the government and a good proportion of the population have realised that things could not carry on as they were. The country needs to become more efficient, create more output and to increase competitiveness and productivity levels.

So much so, that the government decided to chop off leave days in lieu of days worked on public holidays that fall at a weekend. That is the extent of the situation we are in. So it begs the question, just how far was the GWU prepared to go with this? It was definitely a hot potato – with terms such as lockouts and sympathy strikes and marches already being mentioned.

Would it not have made much more sense to sit around a discussion table to find a negotiated solution at the very start of the issue rather than both parties shooting from the hip? Did the union not take into account that employees in the private sector might want no part in the issue? At the same time, the government should have taken into account that the workers themselves were not to blame for following trade union directives.

This is a classic storm in a teacup. The issue should have been immediately resolved by dialogue. If both the government and the union had sat down with open minds and actually discussed the matter straightaway, we are convinced that they would have reached a mutually amicable solution very quickly as, in the end, they managed to do in one day. Talk of workers taking to the streets and nation-wide sympathy directives does no one any favours. Neither does taking frustration out on employees rather than discussing matters properly with trade unions. Dialogue is the key.