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Tony Zarb admits he was hurt when he heard his deputy and comrade had announced his decision to contest him, but the seasoned leader will not go down without a fight. 
After 21 years working full time in the General Workers Union, secretary-general Tony Zarb knows how to assemble his delegates behind a rallying cry. He might be less eloquent than his rival Manwel Micallef, but in his typical straightforward fashion, Zarb is presenting union delegates with a stark choice: either him at the GWU’s helm, or the Nationalist Party ‘will win’.
According to Zarb, the choice is between electing him or letting the Nationalists and their allies dictate the union.
“The Nationalists and their allies have no right to dictate the GWU on which path it should be choosing and that they have no right to dictate who should be leading the GWU.”
But is Tony Zarb saying that the PN is backing Manwel Micallef? “I am not saying that. I am just saying that the choice on who should be the next GWU union should be in the hands of delegates.”
Zarb speaks of an ongoing PN campaign to weaken his position in the union dating back to the time when he was secretary of the port and transport section. “It is clear the PN does not feel comfortable with me leading the General Workers Union.”
But others claim that just as the PN might not be comfortable with his leadership style, the MLP is very comfortable having Tony Zarb leading the GWU. “You should ask the MLP whether they feel comfortable with me. I am only interested in doing my work as a trade unionist, nothing less nothing more,” Zarb says.
Like Manwel Micallef and most trade unionists in the world, Tony Zarb unashamedly proclaims his leftist political beliefs. Despite his clear political sympathies, Tony Zarb acknowledges that in the past he had worked to distance the GWU from the MLP. “Back in 1992, I had spoken to a group of people to push for removing the fusion between the party and the union. The fusion was a good thing for some time but things had changed.”
For the future Zarb envisions a cordial relationship with the MLP in the coming years. But he expects the MLP to take up proposals made by the GWU. “The General Workers Union will be coming up with ideas on how the country should be governed. We will seek to convince the MLP to accept these ideas and implement them when elected in government.”
Change for its own sake makes little sense according to Zarb. He points out that he has been leading the union for seven years. Other trade union leaders and past and present party political leaders have served their organisations for decades without anybody calling for change. “There is no time frame limiting the term of any GWU official. One can serve as long as one has the majority of delegates behind him.”
Yet despite the heavy political overtones poisoning the election of the new GWU leader, Tony Zarb insists he is still on talking terms with Manwel Micallef.
“I am often internally criticised for being too generous. I am a patient person who keeps a lot of things to himself. By keeping certain things to myself I am doing a great deal of good to the union.”
On a human level, Zarb admits being hurt by Micallef’s decision to contest him, but he declares that he is accepting the rules of democracy and everybody’s right to contest him.
But that does not stop him from saying that Manwel Micallef has sealed his fate by choosing to contest.
“Manwel has chosen his path. He is contesting two posts, the post of general secretary and the post of deputy general secretary. His future in the GWU leadership is now in the hands of the delegates.”
The GWU’s young section leader for manufacturing and SMEs, Roberto Cristiano will be contesting Manwel Micallef in his post as deputy general secretary, a move interpreted to attempt to oust Micallef from the GWU leadership.
But Zarb declares his strict neutrality in this parallel contest. “I am not supporting anyone. I have to work with everybody who gets elected after being reconfirmed as general secretary.”
In the past week Tony Zarb has occupied the front page of the union’s weekly it-Torca while Micallef’s voice was confined to his regular weekly article. Asked whether the two contenders will have the same space in the union’s newspapers, Zarb said this issue was currently being discussed and clear rules will soon be issued to ensure a fair competition.
Although Tony Zarb is presently convinced the union still needs him at the helm, he was not so sure after the 2003 election and referendum when he had publicly announced he was considering quitting, paving the way for a new leader.
Just like Labour leader Alfred Sant, Zarb first announced that he was stepping down but a few weeks later he had a change of heart.
Zarb admits that at that time there were some in the union who wanted him to go and that he was considering taking their advice. But following “the sincere and genuine appeal of the National Council I decided to stay on.”
Zarb shows no regrets for this change of heart saying the union’s performance in the past two years has only served to strengthen his resolve to lead the union in the coming years. And Zarb insists that the GWU needs a militant like him at its helm.
For the past weeks he has been harping on the virtues of militancy in the front pages of the GWU weekly it-Torca, going as far as saying that “militarising (sic) in the GWU is an honour.” Many have interpreted this as a veiled attack on Manwel Micallef’s softer line. But Zarb insists this was not the case. The word militancy, he contends, has a very wide meaning. For Zarb taking the union’s case on the public holidays issue in front of the International Labour Organisation, after being authorised to do so by the ICFTU, is also an act of militancy.
“By militancy I am not referring to acts of violence. That is not our kind of militancy. By militancy I mean persevering in the path of defending workers’ rights till the very end,” insists Zarb.
But not everybody agrees that the GWU is persevering to the end in its campaigns. In last week’s interview with MaltaToday, Manwel Micallef insisted that under Zarb’s leadership the GWU had embarked on a number of campaigns which simply evaporated in thin air.
Zarb insists that all decisions in the union are taken by the majority in the union. One of the GWU campaigns which has failed to bear fruit, was the proposed referendum to abrogate government’s legislation on public holidays falling during the weekend. Tony Zarb explains that on the proposed referendum the GWU wanted to work with other trade unions.
“Following the Prime Minister’s declaration that the government would legislate to reduce public holiday if the referendum passed, the other trade unions had second thoughts.”
Yet Tony Zarb does not exclude a future referendum on this issue. “The law does not stipulate a time frame for holding this referendum. The GWU could still use this democratic instrument in the future.”
But the General Workers Union has been seeking other avenues to redress this issue, first be seeking agreements with individual companies who were ready to compensate for the loss in holidays, then by seeking redress to the International Labour Organisation.
“The fact that we are taking this case in front of the ILO confirms that when we start a campaign we never stop before achieving concrete results.”
Yet one campaign which seems to have fizzled out is the union’s campaign against the government’s so-called ‘guillotine’ policy. On Wednesday sister newspaper The Malta Financial and Business Times revealed that on 12 September, Interprint workers who had so far refused to accept termination benefits in line with the General Workers Union insistence on alternative employment, had finally accepted termination benefits to the tune of Lm15,000-Lm20,000. Among the workers accepting the benefits on Monday, was GWU president Salvu Sammut.
But Tony Zarb insists the GWU has not given up on this issue. Despite the fact that the GWU’s president has accepted the termination benefits, Tony Zarb insists that the GWU has not moved one inch from its call for alternative employment for the 12 Interprint employees.
“Everything can be referred back. I am sure that if we tell these 12 workers to give up their benefit in order to get back their jobs, they will tell us they prefer getting their job back.”
But Zarb insists that the campaign against the guillotine is not limited to the livelihood of the 12 Interprint employees. Zarb says the campaign was triggered off by the Prime Minister’s declaration that he would start using the guillotine in bankrupt state enterprises or when agreement on restructuring of these companies is not reached.
“It was the Prime Minister not Tony Zarb who spoke about the guillotine.”
Another pillar of the GWU’s campaign is that alternative employment is created for workers in the private sector who end up redundant. Zarb is offended by the insinuation he has blown the Interprint issue out of all proportion in order to boost his reputation as a militant amongst the GWU’s grassroots before next October’s election.
“The Nationalists and their allies have claimed I had raised this issue as part of my electoral campaign. This is a blatant lie. What did they expect me to do, stop taking the role of secretary-general of the union just because they were writing these things?”
Others have also criticised the union for raising this issue in the holiday period. Apparently trade union militancy cannot be tamed by anything, not even the August heat.
Recalling the events of 20 August 1999 when the entire union leadership was arrested after officials scuffled with police following wildcat strikes at MIA, Zarb contends the GWU had never refrained from taking action in August. But back in July, the GWU threatened a wave of industrial action in the private sector as an act of solidarity with the Interprint employees.
But so far the GWU has refrained from taking these actions. Tony Zarb wholeheartedly defends the union’s right to hold sympathy strikes and condemns any attempt to curtail this right. According to him it is now up to the union’s general council to decide on whether to call for sympathy strikes on this issue.
Tony Zarb is perturbed by the argument that one cannot expect private sector workers who have no job guarantees to go on strike for the sake of 12 Interprint workers expecting an alternative job for the one lost.
“Such questions undermine the very basis of the word solidarity. God forbid that workers do not show their solidarity with other workers. Two years ago many public sector workers had marched hand in hand with workers fired from private companies. The same applies when public sector workers lose their job.”
Zarb insists the GWU has used the same zeal it shows in government entities to protect private sector workers from an uncertain future, citing the publication of the document “Holqien tax-Xoghol” which included serious proposals which were not taken up by the government.
Zarb calls on delegates to reconfirm for the sheer reason that for 25 years of active trade unionism “he was always at the front rather than behind workers in their struggles.” Zarb also promises a continuity in his leadership style which he insists is not based on personality but on collective responsibility.
He also speaks of the need of soul searching in the union, insisting on the need of going back to the roots. “Our methods and tools change, but the GWU’s principles based on social justice are eternal,” asserts the self-proclaimed militant.
Yet apart from continuity, Zarb recognises the need of reinventing the General Workers Union as a union of families rather than a union of members. “We are not only taking care of our members when they have problems at work but we are offering services which cater for the human being from cradle to the grave. Our services include child care centres and educational courses.”
Yet before embarking on this venture, Tony Zarb has an even more difficult task, that of stopping the drain in GWU members. During Tony Zarb’s tenure the number of General Workers Union members has continued to decrease, mostly due to a shift in employment from the manufacturing to the services sector and from the public sector to the private sector.
Zarb acknowledges this reality but insists the union is already addressing this problem. The GWU has recently embarked on a campaign to unionise part-timers most of whom are not aware of their right to join a union.
Zarb also boasts of making new inroads in sectors not usually associated with trade unionism. “Who would have expected the members of the National Orchestra to join us? Who would have expected the horse drivers of the traditional karrozzini or the Wied iz-Zurrieq boatmen to join our ranks?”
The next challenge for the Union, according to Zarb is to increase its membership in the services industry.
Tony Zarb concurs with UHM leader Gejtu Vella in denouncing exploitation reminiscent of Charles Dickens proportions in this sector, citing examples of shop workers who are paid in kind instead of by cash. Tony Zarb also concurs with Manwel Micallef that the unions financial position will be critical if it loses the cargo handling tender but he insists that the GWU has embarked on a number of financial ventures in Malta as well as in other countries to find alternative sources of revenue. According to Tony Zarb the global financial position of the GWU is not a negative one.
Tony Zarb has been a full time employee of the GWU for the past 21 years. Losing the contest could mean that Tony Zarb would lose his daily source of bread. But Zarb is not even thinking of the eventuality of losing this contest. But the end it will all depend on the whims of 650 delegates who will have to choose between Micallef’s eloquence and charm and Zarb’s brawny militancy.
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