Despite all the official show of euphoria at this country's achievements in the economic field, there are, mostly hidden from sight by the public, under the parapet wall so to speak, at least two industrial actions which each in its own way, are having an impact on the smooth running of the country.

It is amazing how in this country where the slightest accident quickly becomes household news, such industrial actions could continue for quite some time without raising public awareness and reactions.

At Mater Dei Hospital there is an industrial action by laboratory technicians as a result of which tests already done are not being processed. There may be other variations to this.

This has been going on for some weeks now but it does not seem it is anywhere near resolution.

On our sister paper. The Malta Independent daily, it was written, last December, that  UHM had issued directives to the laboratory technicians working at Mater Dei Hospital, among others, ordering them to refuse to process essential and urgent blood investigations by not accepting the blood samples through the pneumatic tube system hence no blood results are being issued.

MUMN, the nurses' union, claimed that is a reckless directive and is putting patients' lives at risk since urgent blood investigations are not being processed at the detriment of the patients' lives.

The two unions had a public spat on the issue whether patients' lives were being endangered, but that was it. However, people have been inconvenienced, not just patients at the hospital but also out-patients.

It will be a surprise to many to get to know this industrial action is still ongoing.

In a different area of the country's life, there is now industrial action at HSBC Bank, ordered by the bankers' union, MUBE, which ordered industrial action in protest against what it claimed were delays by the bank in the negotiations regarding the collective agreement.

The industrial action, termed a success by the union, has now been extended. MUBE yesterday issued a directive for a sit-in strike as from yesterday.

As this leader is being written, it is unsure whether or how much this latest union directive was obeyed. What is certain, however, is that HSBC bank clients and customers have been rattled and inconvenienced by this action and some have taken to the social media to express their exasperation.

The bank has, until the moment this is being written, not reacted publicly to this industrial action.

In one of these two cases, the industrial action has been ongoing for long enough for the parties to come together and to try and recompose the dispute.

In the bank industrial action, this affects business and private individuals alike and can have ripple effects on businesses and on the country's economy as a whole.

One would expect here, the government to get involved at least on behalf of the community to try and get these issues resolved. In the Mater Dei case, then, the government is one of the parties, another reason why the government should get involved to try and end this industrial action.

It is unusual to have industrial action which go on for any length of time and which have impacts that are wider than most industrial actions eg in a factory.

It is also unusual to have ongoing industrial actions which do not become a public issue, so that most people are unaware there are any industrial actions around.

It is also quite unusual to have such actions without any of the parties, so far, having recourse to an official mediation facility.