The potential but improbable formation of a trades union council comes up from time to time. The intentions are always good, as everyone seems to like the idea, but then little seems to be done about it. And the way things are it seems unlikely that anything much will be done in the short term.

Just look at the recent spate of exchanges, in The Malta Independent, between the two largest unions, the General Workers’ Union and the Union Haddiema Maghqudin.

Following a comment made by UHM secretary general Gejtu Vella to this newspaper on a question with regard to the social pact, there followed letters and counter-replies which did nothing except to expose the differences that exist between the two unions.

The UHM accused the GWU of being responsible for the collapse of the social pact negotiations that took place in the last weeks of 2004 and the first weeks of 2005. The GWU replied that it will never accept a social pact that goes against the interests of the workers.

The two sides then went on to point fingers at each other, and it did not take much to realise that the GWU and the UHM are currently in one of the lowest points of their relationship as unions. What Mr Vella said during a meeting last week with Malta Labour Party leadership contender George Abela and the way the GWU reacted to it is further confirmation of this.

Therefore any talk of a trades union council, which would give one voice to the workers, right now has to be put on the back burner until things get better between the GWU and the UHM. If ever they will be, that is.

The absence of a trades union council does, however, put unions at a disadvantage when it comes to negotiations with the government and the employers, particularly at the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development. While it often happens that the entities representing the employers have a common position or at least one that is very similar, it is often the case that the unions do not share the same ideas.

And this is perhaps what keeps them from making a greater effort to reach an agreement on the formation of a trades union council. They know that their position differs so much and that the conditions they want to impose on each other are so unacceptable to the other party/ies that it is probably useless that discussions even start.

This is a pity, because ultimately it is the workers who suffer the most. While there is no doubt that the GWU and the UHM, and all the other unions for that matter, strive hard to protect the interests of their members, it must be said that the setting up of a trades union council will give the unions – and subsequently the workers – a much stronger voice on the negotiating table.

But then, it is hard to imagine the GWU and the UHM seeing eye to eye. Suffice it to say that the two unions are constantly trying to wrest union recognition from one another in workplaces. In such circumstances, and given that the two unions have hardly ever been in agreement on anything – and the social pact issue is only one of the many instances that revealed the differences – it cannot be expected that some form of accord will be reached.

It is probable that, behind the nice words of wanting to form a trades union council, deep down neither the GWU nor the UHM want to have one. They both enjoy a comfortable position the way they are today, and neither of them would want to give it up. It is also possible that they think that, while a trades union council increases their strength as a collective body, it will weaken their individual power.