interview

A lifetime defending the Drydock workers

With the early retirement schemes at the Drydocks in the spotlight, the General Workers’ Union section secretary Tony Coleiro has once again found himself in the public eye. Today the ebullient Dockyard worker, who is considering standing as a Labour party candidate, tells RAY ABDILLA why he believes the Dockyard schemes will do more harm than good

Tony Coleiro is never afraid to speak his mind, especially when it is a subject he feels strongly about.

And understandably, the future of the Drydocks falls into that category.

Mr Coleiro firmly believes that introducing early retirement and stopping the apprentice schemes at the ‘yard have done more harm than good. The track record proves this, he argues.

"The schemes were never complemented by an intake of apprentices and to add insult to injury, we had workers retiring at 56 years, and going straight to work in competition with their former Drydocks in local ship repair yards," he said.

Mr Coleiro highlights the importance of ensuring this doesn’t happen again, explaining that he personally insisted that a clause is included saying that people caught competing with the Drydocks either in ship repair or shipbuilding, would lose their two-thirds pension.

The union secretary, regarded as militant by many, believes that Social Policy Minister Lawrence Gonzi is hindering the process of sorting out the Drydocks’ problems.

"Having read your article in The Malta Financial and Business Times in which Dr Gonzi declared that a service bonus would not be given to workers retiring under scheme ‘A’, those eligible would have no alternative than to ignore it," he says, adding with a smile, "but at least, this time, I won’t be blamed!"

Tony Coleiro started working at Malta Drydocks as an apprentice on 29 August 1967, three months before his 17th birthday.

When he finished his apprenticeship in August 1971, he became involved in the GWU as a delegate of the shipwrights afloat section, eventually contesting for the section secretary post 11 years ago.

Despite having just started his four-year apprenticeship, he was already aware of the problems Malta Drydocks was encountering at the time. A few weeks beforehand, there was the closure of the Suez Canal, and this was resulting in work losses at Malta Drydocks. The crucial route was important for the Drydocks and obviously the workers were very worried.

"We were allowed to start working at the Drydocks, although at one time, instead of the original 100 apprentices, only 80 were taken on," he recalls. "The others enrolled a month later, after the then Labour MP Wistin Abela raised the matter in Parliament."

But the loyal worker is adamant that over the past 12 years political decisions have contributed a lot to the Drydocks’ financial losses.

"The first political mistake was to stop the apprenticeship scheme," he says. "Over the years, 1,400 workers have retired from the Drydocks, leaving behind an ageing workforce averaging 48 years, with no younger generation which is direly needed to balance the working potential. This has created a self-destroying vacuum."

Mr Coleiro recalls how, in the past, the workers were able to repair more than 20 vessels simultneously, with none of them leaving the yard an hour later than originally planned.

"We had workers nearing retiring age at that time," he admits, "but things worked well because us younger ones made good for their lack of production always under their expert guidance.

"Soon, there will not be any of these experienced workers to teach the younger ones."

We stay in the past, with Mr Coleiro vividly recalling what he describes as "the Borg Olivier days" of the 1960s.

"Dr Borg Olivier was famous for letting time solve the problems," he says. "We spent seven months on strike before Labour won the June elections of 1971."

Turning to Mintoff, Mr Coleiro stresses that the former Premier tried to solve some of the Drydocks’ ailments, although at that workers were being made redundant.

"The workers' participation in running the yard was a good experiment, but it was continuously being sabotaged from the inside," he explains.

While we are on the subject of Mintoff, it is inevitable that the former Premier’s feud with the MLP comes up.

Mr Coleiro admits that Mintoff certainly hurt many people by voting with the Nationalists, but adds that we can never forget what he did for the working class. He says it could be time to heal the wounds, rather than waiting for "floral wreaths at a state funeral which would be too late".

Returning to the current government, Mr Coleiro believes some of the problems relate to the fact that the Prime Minister has always viewed the Drydocks as the backbone of the Labour Party.

"Because of this, the minute it ceases to exist, the better for him," he says. "To accomplish this without being seen to be doing so, is playing the EU membership card.

"He very well knows that both Malta Shipbuilding and Malta Drydocks cannot stay in business without state aid, but he believes that he will get away with it because the workers would blame the EU."

Asked how he views Alfred Sant’s approach to the Drydocks, Mr Coleiro believes that the former Prime Minister tried to take the bull by the horns, but had no time to accomplish his task.

"Contrary to what Dr Fenech Adami often says when he refers to the Appledore report, Alfred Sant accepted that those workers not directly involved in ship repair would be assigned other duties at the Drydocks, until new ventures were set up," he stresses. "Voluntary resignation schemes were unheard of, let alone agreed upon!"

Mr Coleiro says the workers’ only hope is that Dr Sant is returned to office soon, so that a joint effort can be made to carve out a bright future for the Drydocks, while reducing state aid but without laying off a single worker. He stresses that Dr Sant was reported wrongly when it was said that the Labour leader was against subsidies.

"On the contrary, Dr Sant has publicly stated several times that while he is against the Dockyard receiving the current amount of subsidy, he strongly believes that this can be reduced to around six or seven million each year," Mr Coleiro says.

He points out that no shipyard manages without any form of financial aid.

"Other countries, even those in the EU, have advantages we can never dream of having," he says. "Two years ago, Harland & Wolff, the Irish shipyard that built the famous ‘Titanic’, was on the verge of closing its gates forever.

"Up stood Tony Blair, and the yard was awarded the contract of building another warship for the British Navy. Whenever they feel the need, these European governments can always say that they need to re-furbish one of their aircraft carriers, and it goes straight to their docks.

"Who can say whether this work was really needed, or whether it was being done to subsidise the yard?"

Mr Coleiro also highlights the dangers of working at the Drydocks.

"One should remember that these ships, especially the old ones, have a high concentration of asbestos material in several areas, which is fatal if swallowed," he says. "In fact, five American companies have been sued by more than 80 of the GWU’s members who contracted asbestosis, which plainly translated means cancer resulting from asbestos exposure."

He explains that this was one of the reasons the workers were concerned about working on ‘La Salle’ last year.

"And if, as has been said more military ships are coming, are they going to amend the Constitution?" he asks.

Mr Coleiro gives two reasons for believing a Labour government would do a better job of running the Drydocks.

"Firstly because the present government sees the Dockyards as a Labour party stronghold, and secondly because the Nationalist’s obsession with EU membership would definitely lead to the closure of both yards."

The union section secretary stresses that although he is against EU membership, his decision doesn’t only relate to the Drydocks.

"I have said several times that if EU membership was beneficial for the whole of Malta except the Dockyards, I would be man enough to accept it," he says. "After all, we all have our families who deserve a better living. We have proved in the past that we don’t need anyone to tell us what we should do to better our lives. We have been enjoying the minimum wage, equal pay for equal work for both sexes, 13 weeks pregnancy leave, bonuses, two thirds pensions and much more, long before our British friends."

But will he answer the question on everybody’s lips - whether or not he plans to contest the election as an MLP candidate? On this issue he is still holding his cards close to his chest, although he does this with some colourful imagery.

"Whenever a naval vessel enters the Grand Harbour, the government accepts that the captain of the ship will not admit or confirm whether he is carrying nuclear armaments," he says. "Even though the public might be at risk, everyone accepts such a declaration.

"In my case, my candidature with the Labour party would be of no risk at all to the Maltese people – in fact I would consider myself as being the captain of the vessel called ‘Taqsima Tarznari’."