This paper was the first in the Maltese media last week to draw attention to the creeping industrial action including the one at HSBC.

Since then, as the whole country knows, the situation has escalated by leaps and bounds. From a limited union directive, we are now at the stage of a full-blown strike over the Easter weekend, continuing now into the week without any hint when it will come to an end.

Something has gone very very bad.

It is of no satisfaction that people are still able to get cash out of the ATMs. The elderly who prefer to cash their pension cheques at the bank are the ones that come to mind first. Then businesses for whom the smooth operation of the bank is an essential prerequisite.

One of two days of strike, over the Easter weekend was bad enough but to go on will deeply affect the smooth running of many businesses, lives and of the bank itself.

In this situation, it is not our intention to point out fingers and to say who is to blame. In cases like this, the blame is normally to be found on both sides.

There has been no communication, it would seem, between the two sides. Offers of mediation, by the Malta Employers Association, and the Office of the Prime Minister itself, have failed to bring the two sides around a table.

It would seem the grass roots of the union have become intransigent, and it would also seem the bank's top officials may have brought with them work practices that are still uncommon in Malta. We say this tentatively and hesitantly, not being in the loop of things.

So far as is known, the MUBE leaders used to enjoy quite friendly relations with the bank's management, and the bank's employees until recently looked satisfied with their jobs.

The bank is one of Malta's foremost banks, with a presence in almost every town and village. The logo itself reassures visitors that Malta is very much part of the globalized economy since HSBC is a world bank recognized all over the world.

Ever since it purchased what used to be Mid-Med Bank, the bank has grown and has helped numberless Maltese businesses to grow. It has contributed to the Maltese economy not just through its taxes but also through the openings it offered to Maltese businesses to extend their operations abroad.

The dispute itself seems a rather limited one, relating mainly to a collective agreement and to claims of the bank going back on its word. But it would seem that opinions have hardened and intransigency has crept in, where it should have been nipped at the bud.

The entire economy, the country, and especially the people whose lives have been uprooted by this strike hope some means of conciliation can be found before further damage is caused.