PN should not squander chance to ditch animosity towards GWU

Parliament on Monday is expected to vote on a resolution amending the government lease agreement with the General Workers’ Union over its Valletta headquarters.

The resolution seeks to remove a condition in the agreement that allows the GWU to sublet parts of its premises to commercial entities only if it enjoys a majority shareholding. If approved, the amended agreement will allow the GWU to sublet parts of the Workers’ Memorial Building to commercial entities in which it has no shareholding whatsoever.

The resolution was presented by Lands Minister Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi after the Court ruled earlier this year that the GWU breached the conditions of its government lease agreement when it sublet parts of its premises to commercial entities. The Court ordered the two commercial entities – Arms Ltd and Sciacca Grill – to stop operations but it also ruled against the union’s eviction from the building.

The court case had been instituted by the Nationalist Party, then led by Simon Busuttil, in 2017 after the National Audit Office flagged the contractual breaches.

The Opposition has already declared that it will be voting against the resolution to remain consistent with its past actions. Speaking in parliament earlier this month, Nationalist MP Darren Carabott argued that the resolution would allow the GWU to “pass through the window after it failed to pass through the door”. He insisted this is not how things should happen.
While Carabott was right in arguing that this is not how things should be done, the Opposition’s justification to vote against remains very weak.

This leader believes the PN will make a mistake to vote against the resolution. At this stage, this is not consistency but obstinance, which unnecessarily reinforces the PN’s historical animosity towards the GWU.

It is true that the Court established that there was a breach of contractual obligations involving public land that had been passed on to the union but the Court crucially also refuted the request to evict the union from its historical headquarters.

On the basis of this dual outcome, the PN could have remained consistent with its past actions by voting against the resolution at committee stage – as it did – on a point of principle to stress its opposition to illegal behaviour. But it should vote in favour at the final stage in the plenary on Monday to show that it embraces the court’s ruling against eviction. After all, the union will be paying almost €2 million to the government for the change in the contractual condition and as compensation for the breach perpetuated over the years.

Today’s PN has a chance to show that it can rise above historical animosity and be part of the solution that would allow Malta’s largest trade union to make better use of its assets. It will also give Bernard Grech the opportunity to show that he is different from his predecessors, who never hid their prejudices against the GWU.

This leader is not oblivious to the historical context that gave birth to these prejudices. In part they were borne out of ideological opposition to worker unionisation back in the 1960s and later on as a result of the misguided statutory union between the GWU and the Labour Party in the 1970s and 1980s.

But it would be a mistake today if the PN under Grech allows its past to shackle it from moving forward with a more inclusive vision that embraces the invaluable work of trade unions.

After all it is not as if government lease contracts have never been amended. Only recently, the lease agreement for the development of Fort Chambray into a hotel and luxury residences was amended to allow the current concessionaire, Michael Caruana, to transfer parts of the public concession to a group of businessmen. Caruana has missed several contractual obligations and the project remains unfinished. This could have prompted the government to pull the plug on the concession and return the historical fort to the public. None of this happened and instead the lease agreement was amended by a parliamentary resolution earlier this year in a committee session that only lasted a few minutes and with the Opposition voting in favour.

It is ironic that after playing ball on the Fort Chambray resolution, which was nothing more than allowing private developers to continue making more money at the public’s expense, the PN is objecting to an amendment on the GWU lease agreement when this involves an institution that has a very important social role to play.

Writing in MaltaToday, GWU Secretary General Josef Bugeja argues that Opposition MPs want to vote against the motion even though government policy has long been that of supporting businesses, social partners and voluntary organisations to remain financially viable. He is right in this respect, which is why this leader finds it hard to reconcile the PN’s favourable stand on the Fort Chambray resolution with its obstinate opposition to the GWU resolution.

Bernard Grech should put a stop to this confusion and insist that the Opposition vote in favour of amending the GWU agreement when the final vote is taken on Monday.

This leader has no qualms saying that what the union did was wrong. It may have received the wrong legal advice back in 2014 when it chose to sublet parts of the building to Arms Ltd, a state entity, and Sciacca Grill, a restaurant, but this is no excuse.

Within this context, the GWU’s behaviour needs to be condemned but the union must not continue being punished when a perfectly legal solution can be found.