Reference is made to the article ‘Pardons as a political weapon’ by Saviour Balzan, published on page 11 of MaltaToday (25 July 2007).
The General Workers’ Union would like to clarify that during the 1999 industrial dispute with MIA, which led to the subsequent arraignment of GWU officials in court in 2000, the GWU never at any point asked for a Presidential pardon.
The Presidential pardon was granted to the GWU on the government’s initiative, after it found itself under the pressure and condemnation of the international trade union movement.
As a matter of fact, if one goes back to those times, one can find that the GWU’s secretary general Tony Zarb said on several occasions that GWU officials never requested any Presidential pardons, and thus an unrequested favour is no favour at all.
For that reason, the impression that your article might have given should be corrected accordingly.