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Malta Shipyards Limited and its minister tried to make us believe this week that, once again, notwithstanding the downsizing and the restructuring of the former Drydocks and Malta Shipbuilding, it is once again, the fault of the workers if Malta Shipyards does not become viable. The minister also threatened to close the shipyards down if the industrial action persisted. But what the minister conveniently did not mention is that even if he does not close it down, the European Commission will.
The Treaty of Accession which Malta and the European Union signed makes it clear that if the Malta Shipyards Limited does not become viable by 31 December 2008, the Government cannot continue to grant it more subsidies unless it is authorised to do so by the European Commission. This means that in three years time Malta Shipyards Limited will be closed unless the Government convinces the Commission that with a little more help the company can be made viable. I do not know if the Government is aware that it has less than three years to make such representations with the Commission and I am also not aware whether the General Workers Union has reminded the Government that the time is near and that unless something is done from today and a strong case is presented to the Commission for its blessing, the Government will not be able to subsidise the Malta Shipyards Limited any further and it will have to close down.
Moreover the accession treaty also bound Malta Shipyards to ensure that its workers cannot work more than 2.4 million hours yearly, that is, the workers can work only 212 working days annually and not more. It is also in the treaty that the Malta Shipyards cannot have work that exceeds 2,035,000 hours in the next ten years. It is also in the treaty that the Malta Shipyards cannot build ships that exceed a total of 10,000 tonnages annually. This means that if Malta Shipyards constructs a ship of 60,000 tonnages, it cannot build another one until 2008. The treaty also says that the No 1 dock has to close down and as you are well aware, this dock is no longer in use.
I sincerely do not know what game the Government is trying to play. It knows that in less than three years there will be no miracle at the Malta Shipyards. It also knows that even if the workers continue to succumb to all the humiliations and blatant breaches of the collective agreements, the management will still not be able to bring the company to its feet. So now, both the management and the workers are in a catch-22 situation wherein pressure and unrest is allowed to mount on the workers so that the industrial unrest that will follow will serve as a good pretext for the closing down of the company. On the other hand, the workers have the collective agreement and they do not want the company to take them for a ride and to continue to humiliate them even further.
This humiliation comes in various shapes and sizes: the management is composed of the Chief Executive, Mr. Peter Moore, Mr Chris Bell Commercial Executive. Mr David Kahlbom Production Executive and Mr. John Cassar White as Chairman. Peter Moore earns about Lm170, 000 as annual salary whereas Bell and Kahlbom earn about Lm52,000 each annually. What success they had in other shipyards I do not know and nobody knows because the website of the company does not provide any information about their background.
Notwithstanding, they have still engaged the services of another foreign company to get work to the shipyards. Much sub-contracting is given to outsiders and to foreigners when it can be done by the shipyard workers. The machinery has been left idle for a long time and instead of servicing it, the company chooses to hire other machinery. Cape East, the foreign company in joint venture with Malta Shipyards, is paid for staying idle in the eventuality that the shipyard need more staging material. The company in charge of health and safety is also foreign-owned and this was its first experience in the shipyard business. I am informed it is paid about 18,000 Euros every three months and receive an annual bonus of 37,500 Euros annually. How much the company Acquablast is being paid for the hiring of blasting equipment is still a mystery.
This should not be happening and if Malta Shipyards is a burden on us taxpayers then we have the right to be informed of what goes on there. It is the duty of the minister to make public all the contracts that Malta Shipyards has with all its contractors and sub-contractors. The salaries and responsibilities of the executives must also be made public. It is also the duty of the minister to ensure that the company trains apprentices so that sub-contracting will cease to be the order of the day, as at present. The present apprenticeship scheme is self-defeating because the shipyards are training the apprentices but not binding them to stay on after they finish the course. Last year, out of twelve apprentices, only one remained with Malta Shipyards.
If the Shipyards are in the red it is always the management that is at fault. In previous years they allowed the politicians to be in control and now the blame is not placed where it should be, that is on the politicians and the management, but on the workers. If the workers did not do their day’s work, the fault is of the management for allowing them to do that. If the Malta Shipyards is still not self-sufficient it is no longer the workers’ fault but the management’s fault. We are paying them good money to make the industry viable and not to come up with this baby-talk of the workers being at fault.
No mention is made, for example, of the poor state of the yacht industry which is also under the responsibility of the Malta Shipyards. The workers there (please note 4 managers for 40 workers) tell you that there is hardly any work and the management to date seems to have neglected that part of the business completely.
Now is the time for both the government and the Malta Shipyards to be honest with us and let us know their intentions. Are they going to close down the Malta Shipyards by the ultimatum given to them by the EU, that is, by 31 December 2008?
Or are they going to ask the EU Commission to allow them to put more money into the Malta Shipyards from 2009?
Time is against the Malta Shipyards and unless it decides on what line of action it is going to take, it cannot expect us to take it seriously when it blames the workers for industrial unrest, which unrest, mind you, could have been easily avoided had management given some attention to the complaints of the workers.
The Accession Treaty is very clear and is also envisages a punishment to the Government if it unilaterally and without the permission of the EU Commission, decides to give aid to the Malta Shipyards limited. It states that any aid in breach of the conditions negotiated shall be reimbursed to the Maltese coffers.
The Malta Shipyards Limited can live for only twenty more months. Its death is already stipulated in the Accession Treaty as 31 December 2008. In 2008 there will be general election fever again and the holding of the general elections before or after the deadline will depend on whether it manages to get the authorisation to rescue the Malta Shipyards Limited from its death.
In the meantime it will be interesting to see if workers organisations will be ready to sue the management for damages when the company is in the red. If the Malta Shipyards management took action against the workers, can the workers do the same against the management? Maybe the workers of Air Malta can lead the way!
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