During a protest march organised by the General Workers’ Union last Thursday, secretary-general Tony Zarb pledged to do everything possible to

topple the government if the union’s demands were not heeded and the government continued not to take notice of the requests it was making.

This week, probably today, the union is expected to announce directives for widespread industrial action, starting from Thursday.

The main reason behind the union’s actions is that it believes that Maltese workers should not carry any more burdens, which have “resulted from bad decisions taken by the government”.

Mr Zarb went on to mention the three per cent addition to Value Added Tax in 2004, the reduction in the number of vacation leave days introduced this year and the more recent revision of the water and electricity surcharge coupled with the rise in the price of fuel products. “Workers cannot take it any longer,” Mr Zarb said.

The union is also irritated that Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi had dismissed requests for negotiations on requests made by the union soon after the presentation of the budget for 2006. Mr Zarb described as arrogant the government’s attitude towards the union.

TMID has often said that every union, like any other constituted body, has every right to protest. It also has the duty to protect the interests of the workers; there is no doubt about that either.

But the union has to shoulder its own responsibilities as well.

Malta’s economy has not done as well as expected over the past few years, although there are indications that the situation has slightly improved and will continue to improve in the years to come.

The situation today is not the best that one could hope for, and this is largely a result of the changes that are necessary, one of them being changes in the industrial set-up.

This obviously brings about the closure of factories that have been in Malta for many years because they are moving to other countries where production costs are much cheaper. These factories are being replaced by others that are more consonant with the prevailing circumstances in the country. TMID has said that the efforts being made have not been enough and that more should be done in this regard.

Added to this, there is the oil crisis, which is however a worldwide problem. The difficulties being faced by the Maltese government with regard to increased expenses for oil products are similar issues that are affecting other nations.

The General Workers’ Union must however realise that by ordering industrial action it will not be helping at all. Industrial action will create instability that would cause more harm than good. It will keep investors away and not encourage them to come over and set up shop in Malta.

The Federation of Industry already said so in a statement issued a day after the GWU’s protest in Valletta. It went one step further by saying that industrial disruptions “will not translate into new jobs” and neither would they “protect existing ones”.

It would be better to sit down around a table and sort out the problems.

The GWU will say that it had tried to do just that after the budget for 2006 but the government did not want to listen. But the GWU must also remember that the social pact that was discussed 12 months ago collapsed too, and the union does carry part of the blame for this.

Little has been heard over the past months on the possibility of that talks on a social pact could begin once more at Malta Council for Economic and Social Development level in the hope that a lasting agreement could be reached.

The time may be ripe for another attempt.