While one can understand the extreme concern being shown by the General Workers’ Union over the fate of Air Malta workers, it was very pleasing to hear secretary general Tony Zarb say that the union wanted to solve the issue through dialogue and not industrial action.
Mr Zarb said the union would reserve the right to take industrial action, but believed that the matter must be brought to a satisfactory close through dialogue and negotiation, in the interest of the workers and the company.
It is clear that tough times lie ahead for the airline. It is struggling and the restructuring plan has been back and forth between Malta and Brussels for many months now, prompting the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association to say that the matter needs to be brought to a close ‘quickly’, for the sake of winter bookings and the lean month schedule. After all, seat sales are what counts in the local tourism industry.
The union, on the other hand, recognises that between 600 and 700 workers are to be laid off. It accepts this, and also said that it is not opposing early retirement schemes and redeployment and absorption of workers in other entities.
What it is contesting, is what it is calling pressure and fear tactics, being used to prompt workers to take early retirement schemes without anything having been agreed on formally.
The crunch has been a long time coming. It was Malta’s worst kept secret. When one crunched the numbers right at the start, when Ernst & Young compiled their operational report on Air Malta based on the easyJet model, it was clear that about 600 workers would have to go.
Behind the scenes, the GWU has been quietly trying to negotiate with the government, while keeping the Labour Party informed of what was going on. But things now seem to have come to a head. The GWU of today (and the Tony Zarb of today) is not the same as the union (and strongman) of old. Malta has been an EU member for seven years and the filibustering of the past no longer takes place.
The GWU has tempered its reaction and has sought to negotiate the best possible deal for employees, placing emphasis on redeployment within other government entities, or through natural wastage and early retirement.
No one can argue with this logic. Of course, the union has every right to take industrial action – that is what democracy is about – but it is useless to flog a dead horse. One only needs to look at what is happening in Athens to realise that there comes a crunch time. No amount of protests and strikes can prolong the inevitable. The bloodletting must happen at some point or another. What is hoped is that the government will do its utmost to find suitable jobs for as many of the employees of Air Malta as possible. The majority are young, well-trained, skilled and versatile, so they will give added value, wherever they are eventually placed.
The time has come to bite the bullet. Everyone knew that this was going to happen at some point or another. The union and the government now have an obligation to be as open as possible with the employees and inform them of their fate as soon as possible. The meeting which is due to be held today is a good starting point.