The Confederation of Malta Trade Unions on one side, and the General Workers’ Union and Forum Unions Maltin on the other side, are at loggerheads again.

The presentation of a memorandum of understanding by the CMTU, aimed to bring about more unity among the unions, opened a can of worms. The GWU and Forum have both rejected the idea and, rather than leading to more unity, the idea exposed more division.

The trade unions marched together in late 2008 to protest against the energy rates, but that was the last time that they were seeing eye to eye. Since then, there has been a rollercoaster of events and talk that showed that the formation of a trades union council, or something of the sort, was utopia.

The CMTU and the Għaqda Unions Maltin, made up of the GWU and Forum, are too far apart to even think that some sort of compromise can be reached. The sides blame each other for the current impasse, and it is hard to imagine that any one side is prepared to give up something, as this would be taken to mean a sign of weakness.

The GWU and Forum blame the CMTU for the fact that Forum is still seeking membership of both the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development, at local level, and the European Trade Union Confederation, at international level. For its part, the CMTU says that both the GWU and Forum have resorted to personal attacks, which come about mostly through publications in the GWU-owned newspapers.

Past events such as the fact that the Malta Union of Teachers moved from being a CMTU affiliate to a Forum member – with its leader John Bencini taking over the Forum headship as well – have not helped either.

It seems that there are also personal issues that are preventing the two sides from getting round the same table to sort out their differences. The different political background of the two sides is also a cause for this disparity of opinion – although all unions claim no allegiance to any political party, the undertones are there for all to see.

This division is coming at a cost for each side, if not in their day-to-day administration of union matters, certainly at national level. Employers’ organisations appear to be well-bonded and more often than not take common stands (at times against the unions themselves).

On the other hand, unions often take diverse positions on given issues and this gives an advantage to the employers.