PN overreach on GWU’s Valletta premises is punitive | Josef Bugeja

On Monday, members of parliament will vote on a resolution that will change the conditions of the State’s 1957 original emphyteutical deed for the General Workers’ Union historical premises in Valletta – the Workers’ Memorial Building.

The Opposition already declared it will be voting against as it has done already at committee level and during a plenary debate. They claim they want to be consistent with their past decision to initiate court action against the GWU.

The motion to amend the emphyteutical deed allows the GWU to sublet its unutilised basement and ground floor portions to commercial entities, without the onerous condition that it be a 51% shareholder in those entities.

It is regretful that a party that sublets its village każini to commercial entities, and whose historic precedents on the disposal of public land betray any pretensions of financial probity, finds this vote to be a politically litigious cause.

The PN’s overreach has been punitive and merciless towards the GWU since its former leader Simon Busuttil launched this lawsuit in 2017. Did the PN hope that the eviction of the country’s largest trade union could be deemed a political victory? Do MPs of a party aspiring to be a government-in-waiting, find the undermining of a trade union representing 51,000 workers, a truly honourable cause?

This seems to be the situation inside the PN, with its latest crop of MPs trying to uphold the misguided battle launched by its former leader.

40 years after the GWU was granted the Valletta property lease, in 1997 the House of Representatives voted to allow the union to sublet portions of its premises – the condition was that the union be a 51% shareholder in the letting operation. It is pertinent to point out that the WMB is owned by our members and what we are doing is just widening an existing right.

In 2014, on trusted legal advice, we redeemed our ground rent in favour of the State so that the GWU could sublet its unutilised space. Our belief was that subletting these two shopfronts, was legally not a ‘transfer’ as laid down in the emphyteutical deed. The courts disagreed, and we were mistaken – for that we are willing to pay the State its rightful dues.

But the Courts in 2024 did not uphold the PN’s egregious request for the union’s eviction.

To safeguard the union’s financial health, we have now requested that the House of Representatives once again amend the emphyteutical deed; the GWU will pay a total amount of €1.99 million to the Lands Authority for the possibility of subletting parts of the Workers’ Memorial Building without the previous restriction.

MPs are voting on one fundamental change to the deed – that the GWU pays for the concession to lease these bottom floors without restriction, while the remaining 3,800sq.m of legally delineated office space, is strictly utilised for the GWU’s trade union activities.

How is this a matter that continues to occupy the PN’s pathological antagonism towards the trade union’s activities? Opposition MPs want to vote against this motion even though government policy has long been that of supporting businesses, social partners as well as voluntary organisations to remain financially viable to continue safeguarding the rights of those they represent.

It is a transparent motion being presented to the House, that puts to shame the precedents set by previous PN administrations, whose arbitrary decisions benefited private interests exclusively.

In March 2013, the government expropriated a restaurant at the picturesque Fekruna Bay in Xemxija by swapping the land for two government plots in San Ġwann. The NAO and IAID found the State had lost €1.1m on that deal by overvaluing the €4.9m Fekruna plot – the GWU did not hunt down former lands minister Jason Azzopardi for its pound of flesh!

In 2009, the State again facilitated a hasty deal to allow the Marsovin company to redeem the ground rent on public land it had occupied for a Qormi brewery so that they could transfer their concession to Vassallo Builders Group for €8 million – the sale depended on the removal of the brewery condition. The State obliged, removing the onerous condition in just 48 hours, without even taking the matter to the House.

Just as the GWU submitted itself to the court’s decision on the emphyteutical deed, it will respect the decision of the House on this motion. Democracy should no longer be a parlour game for historic grudges, or to give vent to one’s prejudice towards workers’ unions.

The GWU can only look to the future to strengthen its mission to further workers’ rights. For its adversaries, this is yet another steep incline on the political learning curve.

Josef Bugeja is secretary general of the GWU