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There is a tendency for public speakers to get carried away when addressing a large crowd. Tony Zarb’s public outburst during Thursday’s protest is a case in point. While announcing that his union will be issuing industrial action directives, he angrily urged government “to come to the table of discussion or we will topple you.”
This declaration is as anti-democratic as it is a manifestation of old politics. It does little to attract investment to our country and much to scare away potential investors who, at the same time only a stone’s throw away, were being encouraged by the prime minister to place Malta high on their investment list. The secretary general’s Churchillian vow to fight at the work place, in the streets and all the squares is foolish. Proudly calling himself a militant is a sure way of frightening investors and reconfirming the old politics still prevailing in the union movement.
Essentially, the protest will do little to create jobs and much to scare them away. To this extent the placards stating no to investment begs the question whether jobs will be created by protesting. The union has a right to protest and government was wise to sanctify this right. This right is its legacy.
The burning issue is not the right to protest or the rhetoric during protests but rather how things are to be turned round economically. How are we to achieve growth? This is not an individual matter for government but a collective matter for all the social partners. The union states that it will make its proposals on how to mitigate burdens on working people public. What is it waiting for? It should lay these proposals wide open for public scrutiny forthwith. Its brief should extend even into how it will play its part in making the economy grow. This is the best guarantor to lessen burdens on its members.
Hopefully, its proposals will serve as a blueprint for economic advancement seen in its broadest context.
Beyond the protests, the social partners need to take a hard look at the situation. The starting point is their commitment to reform. Are the social partners willing to go through the inevitable pangs of reform? We fear they are not and with good reason for most fear change. The unions feel unease about a reduction in the public sector, government appears little capable to reduce its expenditure significantly and the employers are hardly committed to the social obligation to declare realistic incomes. Perhaps our country, no differently to France and Germany, will only embrace reform once the situation gets worse. Does it need to get worse before it gets better? We all know the welfare system is unsustainable, the public sector over-bloated, the health system burdensome, the haemorrhaging servicing of the national debt and the unrealistic tax revenues. Yet we hear of little beyond pious hopes rhetoric and wishful thinking for a reform commitment.
It’s time to act concretely. This involves re-examining the brief given to the MCESD. Its consultative nature is not helping to galvanise the economy. As such it is not serving the nation. Labelling it as a talking shop may not be politically helpful or correct yet it is not far from the truth. This body needs to be beefed up, with a chairman who is committed to and drives reform and the presence of a minister whose qualities need to go far beyond an ability to listen. His very DNA should be reform-driven.
The European statistics evidence the writing on the wall: reform or be left behind. The optimism being shown by the prime minister is reflected neither in the statistics nor in the reality experienced by people. A reality check is in order.
The reform project is the litmus test for this government. Alone it cannot drive the project but together with the social partners it can start making progress. It takes two to tango. Is the GWU ready to dance? The second point of action is the need to cement a social pact. This is fundamental. There can be little progress outside a packaged social pact. Ironically this pact could be the best generator of jobs and consequently the best protector of employment. Is it possible that even following the loss of jobs at Denim Services and the inevitable ones else to follow we can afford to dilly-dally on the social pact? The GWU’s responsibility to make it happen is enormous.
It is in this matter that it needs to be militant. It will win much credibility and help create many a job if it worked to cement such an agreement.
There is little time left to carry on playing political games. Lawrence Gonzi cannot simply carry on fanning GWU prejudice which has always been his party’s political trump card in times of difficulties, neither can the union carry on threatening to take to the streets as a way to shore up its ruling clique.
Stop the games and get down seriously to reforming this country. We are at the bottom in the league tables. We are destined to carry on sliding. Embracing the reform project and reaching a social pact could be the best engines to kick the economy. The union bosses know more than anyone else that a strong economy is the best guarantor of their member’s standard of living.
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