Yesterday was Worker’s Day and, as usual, we saw the usual rift in our country that always makes itself evident when an important event comes around.

The Malta Labour Party, the party which prides itself as being the defender of workers’ rights, celebrated Worker’s Day with its traditional meeting in Valletta. The Nationalist Party, meanwhile, while still celebrating this occasion, gave more importance to the fact that 1 May also coincided with the first anniversary of Malta’s membership of the European Union.

And so now it seems that 1 May will, from now onwards, have a different meaning to the two major parties on the island.

The EU’s selection of 1 May as being the day when 10 counties joined it last year has unfortunately led to another cause for division in this little country of ours. Just as the Nationalist Party celebrates Independence Day and the Labour Party chooses to give more importance to Republic Day and Freedom Day, we have yet another situation where the two parties are divided in their choice of what to celebrate.

In reality, the two parties should commemorate both events because both have a great significance.

Malta is changing. It might not be a lightning change we are experiencing, but things are moving along, slowly but surely.

Workers will, of course, realise that things are changing. They might be annoyed with the government because four days of extra leave were taken away from them this year because the public holidays in question fell at a weekend, with yesterday being one of them.

But, on the other hand, they must realise that Malta must become more competitive and these four extra days of productivity will have their effect in this regard.

This was not brought about by joining the EU. We have, just like everyone else, been drawn into this worldwide battle of wits. In layman’s terms, countries have started to model themselves on corporate companies – it is just impossible to survive otherwise.

In Malta we have a tendency to want our cake and want to eat it too. We used to produce sub-standard products, yet moaned that people were losing their jobs. We used to offer terrible customer care – then questioned why no one bought our products. We offered tourists a “like it or lump it package” and then wondered why we got so many horror reviews in magazines.

Finally, we somehow woke up from slumber and realised something – we have been getting away with far too much for far too long. And at whose ultimate expense? Our own!

We needed this change we are now experiencing – factories are automating and specialising, more efficiency in production is evident. And the sad truth is that, yes, jobs sometimes need to be shed.

This is where the government must step in with more opportunities. Jobs that are lost must be replaced.

Workers whose occupation has become obsolete must be helped to find employment elsewhere. This is where training and retraining come in. Although it is hard for people who have been doing a job for 20 years to find alternative employment, all the help possible must be offered to them to make this possible.

Young people also need to be sure that they will find a job once they finish their education. It is sad to spend so many years at university only to find there is no work available.

The government must also tackle the problem of the “unemployables” – people who register for work but are not interested in finding employment. Others register for work and claim benefits while sitting at home doing nothing for years on end and still others register for work but do odd jobs here and there while receiving unemployment benefit.

These issues must be tackled. If fewer days of vacation leave can lead to a two per cent increase in productivity, then getting more people out of the black economy into the “real” employment world will be of great benefit to the country.