|
These words were written by Mr Michael Falzon, for your 2 April edition:
“The rumpus being raised in France over the French government’s plans to amend employment laws so that employees could be fired without the need for justification within two years of their being employed, is a similar symptom. Giving more elbow room to employers will tend to make it possible for the unemployed to get a job, but this angle is apparently irrelevant for antiquated trade unions clinging to the ways of the past – defending their members’ rights at all costs and inflating their expectations at the expense of the plight of the unemployed is all grist for the mill as far as they are concerned. And they see nothing irresponsible in this attitude of theirs! Of course, if they bury their head in the sand they cannot see much beyond their immediate vicinity!”
Of course, time did not prove the former Nationalist minister right. On the contrary, today, Monday, 10 April, it’s all over: the French Prime Minister had to give in to the enormous pressure he was facing, made a political roundabout-turn and scrapped the law.
Such is the will of the people.
It is strange to think that in this country we still have politicians who do not believe in trade unions. It is strange to think that we have politicians who forget that they are “in power” as representatives of the people and that once elected, they are not given some God-given right to lead the country in any way they see fit.
Not a simple “rumpus” after, all, then, was it?
Franco Farrugia
Gwardamangia
|
