|
Tony Zarb has told his workers he is ready to receive any blow for as long as he will defend them. With what now looks like a knockout, a growing number of his members are not that sure he is up to it. By KARL SCHEMBRI and JAMES DEBONO
It has just the right ingredients of a self-fulfilling prophecy. As government’s pundits and the Nationalist media gloat at Tony Zarb’s devastating fiasco with Signor Grimaldi to save the jobs of the now dead and sunken Sea Malta, the grim outcome of the General Workers Union’s failed strategy with the Italian mogul has put its leader right on the scaffold he apocalyptically predicted four and a half months ago.
It was still stiflingly hot on that day in July, with the union headquarters ventilated by robust fans fanning the flames of the secretary general’s sermon to GWU members on government’s alleged “guillotine policy” against public service workers, particularly those of Sea Malta.
By an uncanny coincidence, it was also on that day, minutes after Zarb’s speech, when government declared that it had secured the jobs of all Sea Malta workers in its sale agreement with Grimaldi. There was only the need for Zarb’s signature for it to happen. But that was only part of the catch as the government was only securing the jobs of land based office workers. Irrespective of Tony Zarb’s consent, without the seamen’s consent the agreement was doomed.
The message was clear: if the Sea Malta seamen refused Grimaldi’s terms, they would have denied their land based colleagues of a guaranteed employment with Grimaldi or even better – a cosy job with some government entity. In so doing Gatt had sowed the seeds of discord between the shore based office workers and Sea Malta’s seamen.
Seamen were already expressing their disgruntlement in August, to the extent that l-orizzont columnist, Dun Ang Seychell, referred to the angry anonymous letters he had received from seamen in an article entitled “Divide and Rule”.
The discord, which had been brewing for months only, came out in the open on the eve of Grimaldi’s 30 November deadline. Zarb was effectively sandwiched between the conflicting interests of shore and land based workers. By guaranteeing the jobs of shore based workers the government had effectively divided Sea Malta workers.
While shore workers were in agreement with the deal proposed by Signor Grimaldi, 28 out of 57 seafarers were against. The Union failed in providing the sense of leadership necessary to break the impasse. The union failed to realise that Signor Grimaldi was in a position to dictate the terms as he had already chartered a back-up plan; investing in a new company enjoying a complete monopoly without taking upon himself the obligations and burdens of the ailing Sea Malta. Unlike Grimaldi, Tony Zarb had no back-up plan if the seamen remained obstinate till the very end.
Now just two weeks away from Christmas, the heat for Zarb must be unbearable.
With 144 jobs on the line straight after a strong rallying cry at Denim’s layoff of 850 workers, Zarb’s union stands accused of sealing the fate of Sea Malta for good.
As Grimaldi was flying over to Malta on Wednesday to meet Zarb in his last ditch attempt to save the company at the eleventh hour, the union leader realised too late he had run out of ammunition.
With Grimaldi’s terms scrapped for good by the seafarers – a minority of Sea Malta workers believed to be solely, and misguidedly, interested in early retirement benefits – Zarb had no bargaining power left and the endgame was near. His U-turn only made it more dramatic. The timing, ridiculous.
Zarb made his rethink known in a letter sent to Investments Minister Austin Gatt at 7pm on Monday, which still included what the minister called the “superfluous” condition that the GWU retains recognition when the company is bought by Grimaldi.
According to the wily minister in his typical mocking mood, Zarb sent his letter so late because he “could not find a good quality fax machine in Brussels” where he was attending a trade unions’ meeting.
A bad omen indeed. What started off as a petty squabble about the seafarers’ new roster with the new company turned out to be a veritable hijack of Zarb’s leadership, as his grasp of events dissipated minute by minute.
In the meantime, Malta has ended up without a national shipping company to rely on but with an effective private monopoly instead.
Had Sea Malta been privatised Grimaldi would have had taken upon himself the onus of catering for those unprofitable routes, which are deemed a lifeline to Malta’s industry. But now, he has only committed himself to provide service for the next few months until a tender for awarding the public service obligation is awarded by the government. There is no guarantee that Grimaldi or anyone else will apply for this tender. In order to attract potential bidders, the government will most likely have to fork out even more money than was originally offered to Grimaldi when the agreement was negotiated.
Although for now Gatt has emerged politically triumphant, the long term legacy of his bid to privatise Sea Malta saga could leave the country deprived of a life-line for its bludgeoned manufacturing sector.
It is also a cautionary tale in union strategy at a time of economic hardships. For Zarb, who emerges as an internally weak leader unable to convince his own members, as others still resign from his union, it is much more than that.
Since defeating Manwel Micallef at the beginning of October, Zarb has ended up surrounded by like-minded ‘militants’ who are serving only to egg him on in his fruitless rants that are isolating the GWU further. His union may enjoy some privileges from Labour, but just like the Opposition, it finds itself in a minority of one on the MCESD, as other unions and employers clamour for majority voting there.
Within his own union, everyone knows deep down this is a crushing defeat, and with Maltacom’s privatisation in the pipeline, the year ahead promises to be a tough one for the harbinger of guillotines.
“I’m ready to receive any blow for as long as I keep defending you,” Zarb told his executive committee members last July, to a roaring applause.
With what now looks like a knockout, a growing number of his members are not that sure he is up to it.
kschembri@mediatoday.com.mt
jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt
|
