When the major trade unions came together to organise a protest march in Valletta earlier this month and approve of a resolution calling upon the government to revise the water and electricity rates it has introduced backdated to 1 October, many saw it as yet another attempt to set up a trade union council.

This idea has for long been in the making, but all efforts in the past have proved futile, as the differences that exist between the unions have always been an insurmountable obstacle.

When the plans for the protest march were announced, it was thought that a breakthrough had been registered. It was the first time that the unions had agreed to hold a protest march together, and this historical step was interpreted by many as a good sign. The protest was held, and officials of the different unions marched side by side, held hands on the stage and together called upon the government to reconsider its position on the energy tariffs. All well and good.

Yet, in its editorial of 13 November, a day before the protest had been held, The Malta Independent had cautioned against the excessive euphoria that was surrounding the event. “It is when this battle (against the revised energy rates) is over and the dust has settled that we will see whether the present show of unity (among the unions) will persevere in the future,” that editorial had concluded.

Well, the battle is not yet over, the dust is far from settled and the unions are already at odds with each other.

The Malta Union of Teachers was the first to make an official call for the setting up of a trade union council, inviting interested parties for a meeting to be held on 5 December. This received lukewarm feedback from most quarters, with Union Haddiema Maghqudin secretary general Gejtu Vella going as far as saying that there are more important priorities at this point in time.

Then, it was the MUT itself that last Thursday did not attend a meeting of the Confederation of Malta Trade Unions, of which the MUT is a member, which was to discuss the MUT proposal. This pushed the other CMTU members to issue a public statement saying that they had unanimously decided that before taking an official position, they should listen to and discuss the MUT proposal. Before this is done, they are not in a position to accept the MUT’s invitation for the 5 December meeting.

History teaches us that there were many occasions when the CMTU affiliates did not see eye to eye with the General Workers Union on several issues, and this is one of the main reasons as to why no TUC has ever been set up. If now there is this friction among members of the same confederation, one wonders what there could be when the other unions are involved in the issue.

All of this is a clear indication that the protest march in Valletta did show some form of unity among the unions, but that this was more of a flash in the pan than a real expression of harmony.

The differences that exist among the unions, even among those that form part of the same organisation, are still too great to think that a formation of a TUC is imminent. The unions may now have a common battle which they are fighting, sometimes together, sometimes individually, but they are still too distant from each other to think that they could overcome all problems and find a common ground for the formation of a TUC.