The involvement of a mediator in the issue concerning the privatisation of Malta Shipyards should hopefully bring the two sides – the government and the General Workers Union – closer to a solution.

The union seems to have made a step back from the aggressive attitude it took last week when, during a meeting held for drydocks employees at Paola, officials chose to threaten the government with marches and protests in the streets.

It was not the first time that the union resorted to such warnings, and it will not be the last either. But at a time when the future of 1,700 employees is being decided, the union should not have opted for such an approach. Expressions like “Castille is yours, the roads are ours”, “the government is not going to frighten the GWU” and “either the government calls for us to discuss the situation or we stage a demonstration outside Castille” are examples of a militant stand that does not endear the union with the general public.

Statements that the shipyard is not bankrupt and that the privatisation process is just an excuse to demolish the union are also a rather absurd way of looking at the government’s commitment to save what can be saved of a company that has been eating out of the people’s pockets for so long.

Since last Wednesday, however, the union seems to have realised that it will not get anywhere with threats and militancy, and it has once again agreed to try to sort things out in negotiations.

Whether these talks will succeed or otherwise remains to be seen. The government has already hinted that it is ready to fine-tune the early retirement schemes that it has offered the shipyard employees, although outsiders consider the schemes that have been proposed as already being quite a reasonable package. The government has also made it clear that any improvements agreed upon would also be made available to the workers who have already applied for early retirement.

This sign of goodwill should not be abused by the union, which knows that there is only so much that the government can offer at this stage. The union also knows – or should know – that public opinion is very much in the government’s favour, considering that the shipyard’s losses have been absorbed by the taxpayers for many years.

Added to this, the time available is rather limited, considering that the privatisation of the shipyard needs to be sorted out before the end of the year, that is when the government will be paying its last subsidy to the shipyard. After that, it is either privatisation or closure, and therefore the GWU should understand that any intransigence and delay could undermine the privatisation process and the future of the workers and their families.

That the union has accepted that privatisation is the only viable solution to a long-standing problem is already an important factor. But this is not enough. The GWU must understand that it cannot be too demanding – it cannot, for example, expect the government to agree on its proposal that jobs are guaranteed whether the privatisation process goes through or not.

By now, the GWU should have realised that any delay or stubbornness will seriously jeopardise the privatisation process. The union has a responsibility towards the company, the workers and the country in general, and any decisions it takes should take all this into consideration.

The involvement of the mediator in the negotiations between the government and the union could be the last chance there is to find a solution to the current impasse.

Time is running out.