For shame
Those who drive buses and white taxis have never been the most popular service-providers, but now we view them with even greater contempt than ever before. It’s pointless saying that some of them are all right, and they shouldn’t be blamed for what the others do. So what if some of them are all right? Most of them are not. The service they provide is, in general, absolutely terrible. Many of the drivers of white taxis are actually frightening. You don’t feel you can trust them. Having grown up near the Preluna Hotel, and exposed for years to the pimping and worse of those who sat in the white taxis at Ghar id-Dud, I have retained a suspicion of them all my life. On the rare occasions when I need a taxi, I call a chauffeur service. Not only is it safer, more comfortable and cleaner, but it’s cheaper, too. I would never dream of calling a white taxi to take me to the airport, for example, because I wouldn’t want the driver of a white taxi to know that I am away.
Is this prejudice? No, it’s just common sense. And looking at the way some of them have been behaving over the last few days has just entrenched my deep mistrust of them: attacking ordinary citizens, hijacking vans and stealing the keys, forcing soldiers out of emergency transport (and what kind of soldiers were those, eh?), and smashing windscreens. It doesn’t help matters that one of the points their friends the hearse-owners are bickering about is their insistence that men with a police record should be allowed licences to drive hearses. It’s bad enough that the men deployed at funerals by firms of undertakers usually look like characters in a black comedy skit. We’re expected to accept bad boys at the wheel, and to allow them into our homes if the funeral cortege isn’t leaving from a hospital morgue.
Sympathy for the strikers stands at nought. We didn’t like them before Monday, and we like them even less since Monday, when they have been behaving even more like farmyard animals than they usually do. Everybody is saying how tough Austin Gatt is not to climb down and give in to their demands, but guess what? I’m concerned about the plaintive note that I’ve detected in his communications with the ghastly Victor Spiteri and all the other transport ghouls. If he feels like pleading, he should get a grip on himself immediately. What was all that about Dr Gatt saying that he can’t believe the hearse people are so immoral as to not even allow one hearse to provide a funeral service? He should know what sort of people he’s dealing with. Corpses are just corpses to them. Corpses are their core business. It’s not like none of us has ever been to a funeral before. The hysterical hearse-owners wouldn’t give a damn if the corpses began to flow out of the hospital morgue and into the canteen. Let’s put it this way: if you were a sentimental, touchy-feel sort of chap, you wouldn’t go into the hearse-and-funerals business.
Besides, it’s not like they’re going to lose the work or the money. They’ve got a bit of a cash-flow blip for now, but because everyone seems to be storing their corpses and declaring that ‘funeral arrangements will be announced later’, the current dearth of cash-flow is going to translate into a sudden abundance. All the burials they’re not doing now they’ll be doing later, when they decide to stop their daft strike. Meanwhile, their business is being kept on hold by customers faced with a choice between keeping their dead relatives in the hospital freezer or cobbling together a DIY funeral with a shroud instead of a coffin and a borrowed SUV instead of a hearse. And we don’t even know if that’s allowed. I wouldn’t be surprised if it isn’t, given the tight controls on everything except parking your bus in the middle of a main highway in the rush hour.
Perhaps the government is afraid of being seen as too authoritarian if it clamps down on these unpleasant and unpopular savages? Maybe the government thinks it will be seen as quashing legitimate strikers, which will go down about as well as the tanks in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Well, then, more fool the government: never has the general public on both sides of the political spectrum – and believe me, that’s a first – been so keen to see massed ranks of riot police move on these people and their bloody buses. Nobody wants to see any violence or beatings or anything like that (I’m sure some people do, but I am not going to aid and abet them), but everybody, and I mean everybody, wants to see those buses moved out of the main roads and back where they belong, by large contingents of police officers and soldiers using requisitioned tow-trucks. I can’t believe I just read the reported reply of Austin Gatt to a journalist’s question about the buses blocking the roads: that it’s hard to decide what is legitimate and what is not legitimate in a strike. It can’t be that hard to find out that it isn’t legitimate to park your buses on a main highway, obstructing traffic, strike or no strike. And it is even less hard to work out that sending bands of pickets to key areas like the cruise liner terminal, the park-and-ride car-park, the ferry landing, the airport and roundabouts on main thoroughfares, to intimidate service providers and their customers and to commit violence is a criminal offence.
The contrast between the velvet gloves the police are using now and their aggression against two African men in Paceville a few days ago, in a case that made the headlines, is remarkable. So an African man arguing outside a nightclub gets pounced on by several officers, handcuffed, kicked in the guts, manhandled into a van and kept chained to a bench, but taxi-drivers and bus-drivers who smash windscreens, terrorise coach-loads of kids and tourists and frighten ordinary citizens trying to get to work are…..what? So a couple of arrests have been made: big deal. Compare that to the number of violent incidents and the number of men sitting by their buses parked in the middle of the road and trying to stop people getting to Valletta and the airport. They’re actually chatting to the police now. It won’t be long before there’s a barbecue going on the Luqa roundabout.
I’ve just read the news reports about 50 disgusting savages trying to board the emergency ferry to Valletta so as to intimidate the captain. The police “persuaded them” to leave. Oh really? Didn’t they have 50 sets of handcuffs then, or enough vans to chuck these public nuisances in? They could do with a spot of being chained to benches in police stations until they calm down. I’m quite sure several members of the public are dying to take a crowbar to those buses blocking the roads, but are controlling themselves.
It’s the thinking behind the strike that none of us can sympathise with. “They’re taking my work away!” Ar’hemm hej. Imagine if the rest of us were to adopt that attitude. Imagine if I were to lie down and scream and park my car on a roundabout each time a newspaper, any newspaper, engages a new columnist or somebody publishes a new magazine. It never works to protect people in a particular line of business, especially one providing an essential service or product, because they have no incentive to invest or improve their service. No matter how appalling they are, people still have to use them. Look at the hearse-owners: they expect their customers to store their bodies in the freezer until they’ve done striking, in the full knowledge that they will still be their customers no matter how shockingly they have treated them. It’s the same with the buses. That’s why drivers are so fond of telling their customers: “If you don’t like it, get off my bus and walk.”
These legacies of a distant past don’t want competition because they can’t deal with it. They don’t know how to operate in an environment where, if they shout at their customers, assault them, or force them to leave their bodies in the freezer, those customers will no longer be their customers. The sense of entitlement is amazing. Listen to the words of a taxi-driver who was among the pickets at the cruise liner terminal, and who tried to assault a chauffeur who picked up some passengers: “He’s a strike-breaker and he’s taking my work away from me.” MY work away from ME. What makes it his work? And what makes him believe that he has a god-given right to it no matter how appallingly he behaves? And you can’t call somebody a strike-breaker who is not in your line of work and doesn’t belong to your union, anyway. That’s ignorance for you.
I don’t think the government is being tough on this one at all. I think it’s being wet, so wet that it’s dripping. Withdrawing the emergency service because the drivers are being intimidated? Come on – where are we living, if soldiers and emergency drivers are terrorised by roaming hordes of pickets in under-vests, unbothered by the police? Where are we living, when 60 striking drivers can gather outside a government minister’s house at night without being moved along? Democracy doesn’t mean allowing pickets to break the laws that the rest of us are not allowed to break. Democracy means protecting the rest of us against their uncivil excesses.
There’s something else: it doesn’t reflect too well on our character that we aren’t fighting back. Part of fighting back is showing solidarity with those who are suffering as a result of the actions of these awful men. A couple of hours ago in Attard, I drove past a young lad wearing a Farsons uniform, covered in sweat in the blistering heat while walking and trying to thumb a lift. Cars were driving past him, even though he looked like a harmless young chap still in his work uniform, and not like a thug or a criminal. He had already walked around two miles from his workplace. I picked him up and drove him home to Rabat, a tiny detour for me but a major help for him. If you see people stranded or trying to hitch, for heaven’s sake pick them up. It’s not going to kill you, and it’s one way of undermining the people who are trying to undermine the country.
The damage being done to tourism is great. Thousands of people work hard and invest time and money in trying to persuade people to come to Malta when they have a wide choice of other far more interesting places to go to. And then they come over and find this, and go back home to badmouth Malta. One of my sons went to the airport in the early hours of Tuesday morning to collect a friend, and ended up making two trips to Bugibba, ferrying distressed Belgian tourists with children because he felt sorry for them. “I couldn’t just walk off and leave them there,” he said. “There were so many of them and they were completely bewildered. And when I asked the police officers what those people were supposed to do, they just shrugged.” The pickets didn’t catch on, and he was impressed by the fear on the faces of those who were driving hired vans owned by private companies. One driver, he said, was perspiring and trembling, as though under threat of gunfire, and after he had loaded a couple of suitcases, pulled them out again and drove off, leaving his putative passengers stranded.
I’m not impressed by all this talk of trying to come up with solutions for people arriving at the airport. How hard can it be to commandeer government vehicles – we’re not talking of requisitioning private vehicles – and set up an emergency service for incoming tourists? They’ve saved up, looked forward to their holiday and paid good money to come to what, on a bad day, seems to be little more than a glorified dump – and this is how we treat them? They could have gone to the Greek islands, but instead they came here, and this is the thanks they get. Possibly, the emergency vehicles could take a detour past St James Ditch where there is now a new zoological attraction: men in vests, plumber’s cracks on display, having barbecues next to their parked buses.
This article is published in The Malta Independent today.
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Right then,
I do believe that these bus and taxi drivers need to be taught a lesson. Obviously, the more polite, well mannered and basically normal people of this land are not about resort to violence as is the standard for all these hooligans who think they can maintain a monopoly (providing crap service) through violence and threats.
I propose we give them a taste of their own medicine. The next time u see a tourist who is wiaiting for a cab or bus, give them a lift. The next time u see a bus about to pull out of a bus stop, block him in (till he gets irate and starts to get off the bus, then run away. If he bumps into you, it’s gonna be his fault anyway) and let’s all try and come up with some creative ideas on how to make life difficult for them, just like they have done to us.
Our government is chicken. It is obvious that they are stil lscared of this group of people, and their capabilities, just like back in the mintoff days, this sort of violence should be snuffed out immediately, and ‘nipped in the bud’, just like they did with a group of unarmed coloured people who were already controlled behind bars, who tried to have a sit-down protest (can anyone else smell the fear here?).
ANY other country in the world, if you make an aggressive move towards the OPM you are shot, fullstop. I really od think the govt need to find it’s balls and end this.. Now that the hearse association has pulled out, they simply have no reason to strike, and should be stopped , immediately, using all means necessary.
enough rant, there’s my 2 cents, but please, remember to pay them back at least the same amount of time you got stuck due to their actions.
hehe
Daphne, for once I couldn’t agree more with you, it also crossed my mind to urge genuine tax payers to stop paying taxes should the government give in to such pathetic intimidation. I honestly urge Austin Gatt and the government to swiftly move on all remaining monopolies left on this Island. The time for monopolies is long past.
Prosit Daphne, you expressed the thoughts and feelings of many people brilliantly.
Now that the hearses have pulled out of the strike and accepted the granting of the licences, can someone tell me what exactly are they striking about?
The goverment/police didnt manage to control a bunch of tugs with so little grey matter in their heads. they could guess their plans from day one. they could device a plan to minimize the effects. yet,they waited and talked politely. maybe Anglu farrugia should have helped the goverment on this one.
While I agree to most of Daphne’s arguments on the Transport Union’s present strike and its ugly consequences, I find it very strange that Daphne did not mention the deceitful behaviour of GonziPN during the general election campaign that created the present situation we are all living.
The Transport Union Strike is a clear example of GonziPN’s Electoral deceit. One can very well add this to the deceitful promises of the PN to hunters and bird trappers. One can very well describe the transport strike as ‘self inflicted wound’ by GonziPN.
The pre-election written promise by an ex Minister of Gonzi previous administration to bus owners that the status quo would prevail, was deceitful. To add insult to injury, the Ex Minister publicly confirmed that he had the backing of Gonzi’s Cabinet to make such deceitful promises to bus owners. This was not a simple empty pre-election promise that can never be honoured. It was a shameful promise that can never be honoured.
We are now witnessing the result of such deceitful behaviour. We are all suffering from such political deceit. I hope and pray that such deceitful and shameful promises will stop liberalisation and overall progress.
The biggest SHAME should be shouldered by GonziPN !
Correction ..I hope and pray that such deceitful and shameful promises will NOT stop liberalisation and overall progress.
@ DaphneIt’s pointless saying that some of them are all right, and they shouldn’t be blamed for what the others do. So what if some of them are all right? Most of them are not.
Well,that was the whole point of my argument when your post regarded our policemen. I honestly don’t know who is worse, the police/soldiers or these neanderthal bus/taxi drivers.
Makes me wonder whether I live in Europe or some South American jungle
@Peter Muscat
You conveniently forget that discussions were being carried out between the ADT and the ATP on liberalisation. This was clearly outlined in Minister Gatt’s letter that was published a few days ago. You can see it here.
The strike was in support of the liberalisation of the hearses (supposedly), but in reality its intention was to bully the government into making more concessions.
This has nothing to do with “pre-electoral deceit”
People from whatever faction accept Liberalisation in the sector. Look at what the transport workers have deteriorated into, a bunch of savages and criminals. I don’t want to be driven by them, where are the new faces…
Great article Daphne, I was waiting for this one.
If anybody sees people walking in the main roads (especially between 11-4pm), pick them up. I hate giving lifts to strangers, but as a Sign of Solidarity to the common good I will aswell, it is simply not fair on them to be roasting in the dangerous sun.
Priority should be given to people with Cargo & children.
…..the Establishment is in shambles. One does not solve acute problems, I suppose… through cash lurings ….we are forging sinister deeper profound repercussions on society at large…
At the moment we should focus on the attack on the Prime Minister’s Office that is a problem.
That was very very very serious.
That was an attack on the State whether politically motivated organized… which I don’t believe it was or otherwise and I don’t care really …I stick to the fact! Which means long term imprisonments for the sake “of good and honest people” Ah no I am not at all comforted knowing people are being rewarded or punished “nel al di la”……. ‘qua’ honeys ‘here’!!! The bad guys have to be encouraged to spend some time at Corradino…it makes them realize how beautiful life is and how we can live in harmony and that no individual is superior to any another…LAW equalizes that….
To many in this chaotic Island…. I dread to suggest: ’sauve qui peut’
@Peter Muscat
Take off your blinkers mate! You’re so predictable and boring! GonziPN is also responsible for your freedom and quality of life – now leave us alone and go get one!
This is a unique situation.
The strike (hearses) has been pulled off and the sympathy strike (buses) is still on.
Once again the police have shown their true colours, their motto is “be strong with the weak, be weak with the strong”, th epolice are only effective in assaulting defenceless immigrants, women and students.
The police commissioner should be ashamed of themselves for not protecting the public during these riots, the reason they didnt protect us is that they are from the same clique as the bus-drivers, thugs and bullies with the same mentality,
and where was the press? who was directing our national TV to ignore these riots?
where was the army?
where was our home affairs minister and where was our prime minister during this anarchy?
Xaghra: The name’s not Peter Muscat. It’s “Peter Muscat”.
Way to go Austin – if i were him I would proceed with a full liberalisation immediately – the roads are lovely without those horrid buses and their drivers – one also realises how careless and selfish they all are when on the road – they are nothing more than road hazards at the best of times!
This is such a bad storm in a teacup that I’m strongly resisting the urge to vomit. In my opinion, both parties were wrong. There is no reason on earth why there shouldn’t be more hearse owners. If anything, their prices were not controlled, their businesses were not scrutinized so that they would met some strict standard, and i daresay that there can be more of them. The taxis and the bus drivers are a different kettle of fish. I’m quite sure that they have a point on the long term outlook of their businesses, because after all they are all SME’s and most of them have invested in their businesses. What i am incensed about is the way they went around things. You do not shoot first and ask questions later. You discuss and discuss and come out with all around acceptable solutions and at the same time drastically improve your service. For example, if taxi drivers drove better, dressed better and got rid of their uncouthness, and slashed their prices by two thirds, they would be run off their feet with business. Who wouldn’t want to take a taxi home, in the comfort of aircon and quickly after a day in Valletta shopping. I’ll bet that there will be no shortage of people willing to pay 12 euros for the trip. Or coming from the airport tired after a long travel for the same amount/ Instead, they stand around the arrivals, spitting, swearing, smoking, scratching their piles, wolf whistling nubile tourists and saying “kemm gejna kmieni”, cleaning out their ashtrays under the curb, and generally making a nuisance of themselves for the one trip that will make their day. Mind you, not all are like this. There are some taxi drivers who are the epitome of good manners. Take the ones who service Le Meridien in St Julians.They are well mannered, well turned out, and they will not overcharge. I have used them countless times, Paul and his three fellows. I actually call them up for cleints who come from the USA and UK and other places. Usually they are here for a day and a half. the price is always the same , but Paul and his crew usually ask their client if they would like to take a tiny tour by detouring along Sliema front, to Msida, round Valletta and then to the airport on their way out of this country. No one refuses, and everyone is grateful, for all they would have seen of Malta is their hotel room or my ugly mug in meetings. And the price is always the same. The car is A/C’d, the driver is nice without being obtrusive. They give a service. If all taxi drivers behaved like Paul and his crew, there would be no strike and no issues…..period. But no. They ran rampage. The bus drivers are in the same situation and no better off. There are too many buses and taxis. And in all fairness, we cannot really support more. Liberalisation is good, but there is a fine point to it. It usually means that a strong player will destroy the competition until he is the only one left standing, then he will dictate. That’s exactly what happened in the UK, with the result being that they have an expensive shoddy service . At the moment in time, bus drivers are all small SME’s. If liberalisation had to happen, then each SME or company should only own a maximum of three buses and the Government should not try and dictate the fares. That’s what will happen. If we have to liberalise lets do so without invoking all sorts of mintoffian controls over prices, because the “workers” demand cheap, if not free , transport. But i do understand their predicament. Most of them are law abiding persons who are still paying off their loans on their new buses. They have families. They are working in one of worst environments known to us. Suddenly their complete way of livelihood is threatened. I ask you, all you “komdi” in this blog, what would you say if you were a bus driver? Would you reason like this. No you wouldn’t would you ? But again, they shoot themselves in the foot. I have just stopped for a sandwich in my favourite bar in Mosta. In there was a grossly obese ( Look who’s talkin) shaven headed, monster of a man with tattoos all over his arms, neck and the side of his face, and with pierced eyebrows and studs in his ears. He was giving vent to his anger. HE was a bus driver-owner. I was appalled. I couldn’t find any sympathy in my heart for him as a person, let alone as a bus driver. Anyone who proclaims his deviantness like that shouldn’t even be allowed to drive a car with opaque windows, let alone a bus. If he were my son, dressed like that, I would shoot him out of hand. Is this what Malta G.C’s sons have become, like something out of a particularly malodorous Jerry Springer episode? Not surprisingly he didn’t find much sympathy in the bar either. He was simply too disgusting to look at. He probably scares the bejesus out of tourist and Maltese old ladies alike on his bus.
But back to the subject. The only thing the government has to do is to prohibit the take over of buses and taxis by another monopolistic or dominant undertaking by lilting the permits to two per person, and making sure that any new entrants would have to purchase new vehicles, after helping out the sector by monetary and training means for a period of time. Austin did shoot his mouth off when he said not only the hearses, but the buses and taxis as well. That is Austin. It doesn’t mean he is right, but that’s how he is. It doesn’t mean that the taxi and bus drivers are wrong, but that’s how they are also. After this debacle however, no one was the winner. everyone lost. Austin et al will not challenge this sector lightly again. And the taxis/bus drivers now regard the Government as an enemy, not a partner. Clearly, there is a lot of healing to do. And it’s going to take a Man of Men to clear up this mess. The damage to our social fabric has been done. For 3 days these people ruled the roads. If both have sense, they would close themselves up in a room and thrash it out. Not publicly. And they would not come out until they do. And please…..bury your personal animosities in there as well. I’ve been through this before. It’s possible.
What should Gonzi PN be ashamed of?
Winning too many elections.
Putting Malta on the ICT Map.
Having the lowest unemployment rate in Maltese history.
Being in government for a quarter of a century.
What has the MLP got to be proud of?
…Long silence…. Followed by a cricket noise.
Having a new leader.. wow.. the 3rd one in 16 years LOL.
I always call a spade a spade – it’a a well written article and the waiting didn’t kill me :) Personally I would have preferred the Govt to use one of its supersized ‘gaffef’ and sweep the damn things off the road and clear the way for us ordinary blokes.
@ Xaghra … I never ever imagined that my town is the home of such pathetic and puerile twits like you.GonziPN’s decietful promises are the cause of the shameful situation, thank il-Bambina we did not experience in Gozo.
Pre-Electoral deciet has always been the Trade Mark of the PN.Facts are facts and you cannot twist that.
Please do not judge me with your narrow mindedness. I pity your likes, who owns such salted minds..
Nevertheless, I be entertaining some friends at Xixi tonight and you are welcome.
I couldn’t agree more with Daphne Caruana Galizia on this one. What passed through my mind, when I heard that the emergency bus service was called off a few days ago, because it was becoming too dangerous to operate, was: “What?? Too dangerous to operate? Why – because of a group of semi-retarded gorillas bouncing around in wife-beaters causing havoc and violence? Well then why the hell do we have a police force and “army”?”.
What the government was saying, when it admitted that the emergency service was called off, was that the group of angry bus, taxi and minibus drivers had successfully taken control of the island, and that the government refused to defend the country’s citizens and enforce the law.
What a bloody sorry excuse for a government and police force. This island is little more than a Sunday morning cartoon.
@ Adrain Borg … I was not referring to the ‘ Gozo lover” Minister, ( Hon Austin Gatt) but to the previous one Mugliet,who wrote to all bus owners before the election, promising them heaven on earth.Same decietful behaviour that hunters and bird trappers experienced before! Remember?!
Why Mugliet with the approval of the cabinet wrote such a letter just a day before the general election should be condemned.If such behaviour, to your standards isn’t decietful then what the heck is? It is simply SHAMEFUL!
In short GonziPN didn’t have the ‘balls’ to tell the truth about the planned liberisation. Liberisation is not the issue but the way GonziPN decieved bus owners is.
I fully agreetThat monopolies must come to an end, but that is not the issue.
@ Jack : conclusion is that they are fearing that they will lose their monopoly.
It is high time for taxi-meters to be introduced.
I have been to many places , taxi drivers always take you for a ride (metaphorically speaking)when you do not know the place.
I always prefer to ask and agree about the price before taking a taxi.
By the way ,the best Taxi Meters are those which take a credit card reader.
Some recent experience:
Cost of hearse and the accompanying car for a priest €167, that is LM 71.
Cost of an air conditioned taxi in a funeral € 47 that’s Lm 20.
Duration of funeral : not more than two hours.
Cost of a modest coffin : € 550 (Lm 236)
Cost of 200 “In memoriam” cards done on short notice with a picture of the departed person : €150 (Lm 64 )
‘Tips’ for the two cemetery attendants €115 (Lm 50)
The past few days have reminded me so much of the bad old eighties when might was right and this sort of bullyish behaviour prevailed.
There was this pic on “The Times” two days ago of a bunch of half naked fat thugs with thick gold necklaces shoving the police on the steps of castille….. DISGUSTING!
I am noticing that most commentators drive their own cars & some are determined to start picking people up. These cannot be frequent bus users. How can they judge the service then? I don’t drive & I use buses frequently & for the little I pay I get a good service. If you are to judge buses on how you see them on the road (lousy?slow?clumsy?) then let me please explain how I see cars on the road & suggest super high taxes on private cars & even higher taxes on fuel used to run them. That is one way to reduce the astronomical number of cars on this island, rendering the roads more accessable to us athletes & to cyclists. Not to mention air quality. There is no right or wrong. Just points of view.↵↵I sympathise with these drivers, mostly for the reasons brilliantly outlined by Peter Muscat. They are heroes, like those of sette giunio, brave enough to fight back, unlike the lambs of Bortex, Maltacom & others.
[Moderator – If you’re going to make it impossible for people to own a car, then you need to provide an decent alternative.]
This farce seems to be over. At least Act 1 Scene 1 is.
I would not like to go into specifics at this stage. However I sincerely hope that the Police Commissioner and the Minister for Home Affairs spend a few days at a table somewhere or other and talk like two grown ups about the goings on and their reactions over the past three days. This is 2008 Malta in the EU and we are not ALL morons or bus and taxi drivers. The least we expect is that the rule of law is upheld – always and everywhere. This is the duty of the Police and the political responsibility of the Home Minister. Please make sure that there is no Act 1 Scene 11.
Woe betide if there is because then heads will HAVE to roll. What do you big heads take us for ? Millions of Euros have been lost and our country shamed. Does anyone think this has gone unnoticed ? It has not. It is too soon after a new government has been installed to have major sackings and reshuffles. Let us hope this will not be necessary in the very near future just because of a couple of hundred thugs and pimps.
@M Bormann
Is it possible you don’t get it? This government’s only strength is spin. And its adversaries are always lacking in that department. I am sure that Gatt and Gonzi, or Gonzi and Gatt as it’s not sure now who rules the roost…well…lets call them the “TWO GEES”…anyway…I am sure that the two Gees were jumping up and down with joy at the violence committed. That way, the government becomes the victim, il-miskin. The government had nothing to lose because of the incidents. On the contrary. The transport operators simply hung themselves on the rope that was given them.
The army should have rounded up the 250 bus-driver thugs, and placed them on a few boats and sent off to the North African coast,
then any willing illegal immigrants could have been regularly employed in ther stead to run the bus service, I am sure they would have provided an excellant service.
And this from someone who has truly suffered the strike, not from a comfortable (jug shaped?) car driver who is pleased to find the roads free of slow buses. Moreover, the strike wasn’t as bad. Everyone knows that they could have done worse. When I was in amsterdam on a 3 month work experience, I was unlucky enough to experience a similar strike. But there a strike is a strike – nothing works, not even the ferries (in amst ferries are essential esp to get from north to centre) & there were no emergency services. If you needed to get somewhere, you had to walk or cycle. Believe it or not, you always end up with one powerful operator & this is the case in uk, amsterdam & elrewhere. Here it will probably be polidano (caqnu). In malta things were not as bad. But then everyone knows that the maltese are a lazy people padded in cotton wool.
@Bormann
“Wife-beaters?” I suppose you’re referring to the ‘flokk tac-cingi’ and not the beer – they only drink Hopleaf!
@ Mario Debono,
I have no hope that the majority of bus drivers can change, because they lack the education (and I don’t mean purely academic) and they have been brought up to expect the state to provide for them irrespective of their attitude to work. Same can be said of most civil servants I hasten to add (job for life).
I have, as you wrote, put myself in their situation. I invest heavily in my business, but I consider it a calculated risk and do not expect for anyone to offer me anything on a plate. Can you honestly see them changing their ways? The many times I have experienced lack of respect from bus drivers in Malta – I certainly can’t say the same for my present home in the UK. It took me some time here before I could get used to being addressed as Sir on public transport (One learns to do likewise). In Malta I have encountered bus drivers smoking in their vehicle, swearing at other drivers, having long conversations on their mobile phone while driving, giving wrong change and then being rude when confronted.
It is not this strike that has changed customers’ perception, it has just re-enforced it, the last straw so to say.
Unfortunately I doubt that those who have acted so irrationally are capable of any soul searching. The absence of education in Malta is certainly not helped by the existence of (unbelievably popular) media owned by political parties who continue to only address the lowest common denominator and to propagate the impression that only one’s political party can provide them with their daily bread (both materially and spiritually) and encourage one not to think for oneself. Malta has one of the lowest percentage when it comes to young people going for higher education, as compared with the European average (it seems 41% leave early compared to 15% average for Europe according to http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/esf/members/mt_en.htm ). It is a shame that the Maltese language has come to be associated with the “non-thinking brigade” although the recent arrival of intelligent Maltese language blogs by perceptive young people with a better grip on the language, have brought hope.
My God, Steve Grech, why not removing those blinkers and try to discuss the argument under discussion, eh?!
GonziPN was promising heaven on earth while FreduMLP was promising everything to everyone , remember the off the cuff MLP reaction to the 2008 budget?
People with some grey matter between their ears knew that such promises from both parties were impossible to implement.
We were still being led to believe by the MLP that the dockyard can take more subsidies. Just look at what is happening in Gdansk.
@”Peter Muscat”
“Pre-Electoral deciet has always been the Trade Mark of the PN.Facts are facts and you cannot twist that. ”
Of course the MLP’s hallmark is exactly the opposite….honesty, integrity, transparency. Just like with the stipends for students, the Drydocks council, removal of VAT…
Anybody who thought that monopolies were allowed within the EU must be living in Timbuktu…or perhaps in La La Land like someone we know.
As for facts… Illegitimate strike is over; liberalisation has been accepted; forms of compensation (as ALWAYS promised) agreed in principle; thugs arraigned in court; praise for Govt and police all around. Seems like game, set and match to me! No wonder you seem so angry!
Some on this Blog…can’t simply concentrate on the real facts involved and that was the violent attacks on the State.
Today 18th July I read that the strike is over….no honeys…we just have a “stricken state…if not dead, totally impotent”
I am waiting for more nasty fallouts; the continuation of disintegration of Society & State. It’s no fun anymore
@ Xaghra … What is anger please? I never experienced that negative feeling even when I faced most adverse situations.
Once again you twisted all and run away from facts.By pinting adverse situations towards the MLP does not justify the pre-election NP’s deceitful Trade Mark.That is a fact!
In the meantime, please note that I been pressing for good number of years to end the Gozo Channel monopoly. Hope you are aware how this entity has been used to serve some politician’s ambitions! Less said the better.
Nb. On various occasions I have witnessed Two Ex Mp’s from our glorious village ( one PN the other MLP ) sharing a table at the is town’s ( Xaghra ) village Square. I strongly believe that such behaviour gives lot of political credit.Prosit to both ex Mps.
Clifton McLoud: Boorish behaviour is hardly heroic. Did you ever wonder why people prefer to shell out several thousands to buy and run a car rather than use public transport? I used buses for years and finally caved in and bought a car.
If anyone understands what “Peter Muscat” is trying to say please enlighten me….
La la la
@ Xaghra …. La La La … Didn’t realise you need to be spoonfed!
Ejja hu kafe ghand GIGA tal-moxxu ( jew Toni illum hux) and I explain all. Ok habib?
@”Peter Muscat”
Your favourite song just has to go something like this.
”They’re coming to take me away haha
they’re coming to take me away..@@
MEANING PUT AWAY !!!!
Are you really comparing the gonzipn govt (with all its faults) to the ridiculous alternative we are being regaled with. You really must be nuts !!
If anyone understands what “Xaghra” is trying to say, please thank the Lord….c u 2morrow.
As long as there will be a SERVICE , I am all out for the privatisation of Gozo Channel.
When I say “SERVICE” I mean that trips should continue during wintertime .We all know that in winter there are no profits from the trips.So whoever will run a service , should run it all year round.No pick and choose.
If only the causeway was built in the 70’s !
Clifton Mc Loud: What public trasport do you speak about? I live in Fgura, and a month or so ago, I took my car in for servicing early on a Saturday morning. Since it was still early, I decided to visit Valletta for a spot of shopping. 2 hours later, countless “FULL-UP! $%$£%$%!!!” buses later, I was still stranded at the bus stop. Did I get to Valletta on a Saturday morning?! No, Sir, I did not. I finally gave up, walked back home, and when the car was ready and serviced later in the afternoon I couldn’t be grateful enough for my own little car.
What service is that when a village of 12,000 doesn’t have it’s own terminus? When to catch a bus, one has to walk all the way to the Zabbar terminus, as they all pass full-up from Fgura? Yes, when I was still at sixth form and University, I used to walk to Zabbar to catch my bus, but a 17-year-old can do that, I can’t imagine myself walking that far, not with my daughter in tow, and the elderly definately can’t.
What service is that when one is left waiting for 2 hours to grab a ride on a bus?
What service is that when the last bus home is at the incredible hour of 9:30p.m.? You can’t socialize by bus, unless you have a ridiculous curfew. You can’t work shifts, or even take up summer jobs in catering, as you’re not going to tell your employer to drop you off in time for that last bus. You can’t even work regular hours, as not many jobs are tolerant of having employees clocking in 2 hours late.
THESE are the reasons why the maltese roads are over-crowded by cars. An adult can’t live, work and socialize without a car. Maltese 18 year-olds can’t get their driving licence fast enough, as that is the only practicable way to get around here.
The role of the police is to maintain law and order or at least so I thought. You have definetly failed in your duties.
@ Tongy Pace ….Tony Pace, your favourite song must go something like this:
“I started a joke
Which started the whole world crying.”
By the way I didn’t know they allowed patients from Mount Carmel to write in blogs…unless it’s from Mount Etna!
I will check the visiting hours of Mount Carmel so I’ll come and see you. As a precaution, I hope they will put your straitjacket on before visiting times. Try not to scream and squirm when I visit you or they will put a double straitjacket on you.
I will try to put in a good word for you – saying you are only pretending to be nuts – and succeeding vey well.
Previously I have been addressing some arguments which are logically invalid. Re public transport service, yes, I definitely agree with you. I have never stated that public transport is poor or fair or excellent. I said: “for the little I pay I get a good service”. Quality comes at a price. We cannot expect a state of the art hospital like MD for nothing, or almost. Recently I was in Mellieha & late at night I called a taxi to get me back to Sliema. It arrived in less than 10 min, it was fast & clean, a splendid taxi just for me, & the polite driver dropped me off right on my doorstep. But then I did not pay €0.50. This is parallel to the feedback I get from tourists – you can get around here almost for free. Elsewhere there are trains as comfortable as my living room, punctual, & so smooth running that with closed eyes you cannot tell if you are moving or not. But you do not pay €0.50. Which would be fine if we start getting the salaries of the dutch, germans, french…
Yet, having said that, I too wish that the service gets better. It is human nature to always want better things. The main point is that quality comes at a price. In the future we might be arguing that it is better to drive your own car because our efficient, punctual, comfortable public transport is expensive. True, competition tends to pull prices down but, I believe, at some expense. Sometimes at the expense of consumers when, turning their backs on life as consumers, they go back to their ordinary, but far more significant, life as workers. That is not to say that I disagree with competition. Just a different point of view!
@ Peter Muscat : you are an insensitive person , Mount Carmel patients need to be respected . You owe them an apology , send a donation to Villa Chelsea , or give them some weekend breaks in one of your farmhouses.
Xi dwejjaq fik.
Peter Muscat – I hope you realise that by your comment above (to Tony Pace) you may have caused offence to relatives of patients at Mount Carmel, apart from causing offence to the patients themselves.
And what’s this obsession with Mount Etna, all because of some silly comment passed by Norman Hamilton in promoting one of his … ahem … mass tours? I suppose you would start passing petty comments about Kilimanjaro or Vesuvius should Mr Hamilton pass similar comment regarding the same.
Peter Muscat = it was very insensitive to mock Mount Carmel patients. To be honest, I thought such remarks were outdated and that, nowadays, mental illness is considered an illness like any other .
It`s a shame that people like you try to keep up the stigma attached to mental illness.
I`m sure that if you or your any of your family were hospitalised there you`d feel very guilty at having ever passed such remarks.
Were you trying to be funny ?
I liked the opening article and the one of Mario Debono. I do not want to offend anyone but allow me to say that if we do some soul searching as Maltese in general we see that there is a little bus driver in each and every Maltese person. The events that happened earlier this week is just a mirror of Maltese society in general. Perhaps, on a positive note, the fact that all and sundry were against this bus drivers business, shows a sign of what we as Maltese want to get rid of, as a society.
Clifton McLoud: Maybe you meant to say we get the sort of service we pay for? “Good service” is not a relative value. It assumes that information is timely and reliable and that the buses are too. They are not. The last time I tried to catch a bus, I ended up walking most of the way instead. At none of the bus stops I passed by did I see any indication of the bus numbers that stopped there (if at all), the routes they would take, or their departure times from Valletta – it would be too much to hope for a schedule stating what time the buses would arrive at the bus stop itself. When I eventually did catch a bus and asked which was the closest stop to my destination, I got a rude reply but none of the information I needed.
In other words, in 30-odd years the bus fares have increased but the service has not improved at all. A better service would probably need the finance of higher fares but higher fares are no guarantee of a better service.
Marika Mifsud: Peter Muscat is not a real name. The man lives in a world of his own making. He’s run out of conspiracy theories, so now he just spends time here pretending to be a tycoon who makes massive donations to blood banks in his spare time.
C Camilleri: Perhaps we should all attend classes in how to tame our inner bus driver.
@all – ‘Peter Muscat’ and his IP address have been barred.
@Daphne. I don’t agree with muzzling peter Muscat in this way. What should have been done is to expose him to our ridicule by publishing his real name. I am sure you know it.
Other points to ponder on maybe….
• Mr Camilleri makes an excellent point. What happened is a mirror of Malta as a whole. What we have become. A nation where might is right. It should not be so. It seems we have gained a lot but in the last few years we have lost our national conscience or morality or values, call them what you will.
• I have no problem with tattoos or piercings don’t get me wrong. But I detest at sight people who are so blatant about it and who overkill it. It’s not us not to be discreet. It’s showing something. Its proclaiming that the person doesn’t care how he comes across. And what the Transport people did, or shall we say a sizeable minority of them did, is exactly that. They thought that might is right. Might shall only be used, and judiciously at that, when all else fails, when the other side does not want to listen.
• Reading the papers today, I got the impression that the lead minister on this could have handled it better, but he is being hampered by the reputation he is building for himself. Did the Transport Fed. Believe that discussing with him was of no use? What led them to believe that?
• That comment on bringing out the SAG and C Company was however completely out of place and I don’t want to see that kind of thing in the streets. I thought we left that behind in 1987. Anyone who advocated this kind of thing in the blogs and press should be castigated. I cannot accept this line of thinking personally. If the army is gratuitously called upon to restore order in the country, the Government has lost my vote. I say this responsibly. I don’t believe Gonzi would do something like that, but I know that some people in the army itself were raring to go. Weed out these elements before we have trouble. We don’t want irresponsible John Rambos in our AFM. Leave that for the films.
• The strike in itself was bad for Malta’s image. I would think that the law can be changed so that arbitrations becomes a necessary first step in industrial relationships. Except that this was no ordinary strike by workers. They are all self employed. They don’t really skim off government money as some “social” cases do. So let’s not be that harsh with the Bus and Mini Bus drivers. Most of them are family men who have taken the plunge by leaving employment and doing it alone. As for the Taxi drivers however, well, they have an attitude problem. It needs changing. Some of them are just downright criminals. Some of them are not. All of them however, have an attitude in various degrees of severity. They should change…..before they are forced to change. ( with apologies to Paul and his crew, who were threatened just because they used their private cars in order not to let their clients down) .
• Last but not least, I am taming my passions and improving my spelling…..apologies!
Mario, ‘Peter Muscat’ contributes nothing to any debate or discussion and is clearly disturbed. popping in to vent his spite or go on about his conspiracy theories. There are plenty of other blogs to accommodate that sort of person. It doesn’t have to be this one.
There is only one way of getting decent service in Malta and that is for the government to buy these guys out and create a govt. run transport system. Privatisation, liberalisation or any other kind of ation will not work. PERIOD.
The police commissioner and the Minister of justice should hand in their resignations for allowing these lowlifes to paralyze the island.
As far as I’m concerned the Maltese public was shortchanged.
I have a feeling that Austin ain’t too happy with the way things worked out, which is too bad coz this was a once in a lifetime chance to get rid of the ogres.
@Corinne Vella If ‘good’ is not a relative value than it is an absolute value. The illusion of absolutes has been dwindling since the time of Galileo & has been wiped out by Wittgenstein, Einstein, Mach & others. Someone has even mentioned National Conscience, Morality & Values. I hope I do not have any of those. Yet you have effectively persuaded me that there is a local rather than a general problem & that the service is not consistent throughout. I live in Sliema & I never experience any of the problems that you mention. If this is the case our disagreement is due to reference to different services. If this is the case you win & I lose.
Re: Might is Right. Let us rephrase this to ‘Might Rules’ to avoid the word ‘right’. Yes, in mother nature Might rules. The US live by this rule almost on a daily basis. A asks for discussion, B says the case is closed, a war begins & the mighty wins. This is why you can forsee a war on Iran, on Sudan… The strike was a necessary act of heroism-they were deceived, they had no way out, they fought back, & some won. I too feel deceived sometimes but I’m not fighting back. Why? Because I’m a coward? Possibly. But more likely because in the last election I did not even bother to vote, like thousands others who have become orphans, without a party. Therefore no one can really say that I’m being deceived.
Clifton McLoud: I lived in Sliema most of my life but that was not the only place to and from where I caught a bus and the same uncertainty and frustration existed everywhere. Last time I looked, no bus numbers or schedules were listed on many of the Sliema bus stops and the last time I asked for information, I wasn’t sure I would get it and I didn’t. So yes, there are differences in the level of service in different areas: bad and worse. Being used to the bus routes, the frequency of dispatch and the time when demand peaks can easily blind you to the discomfort caused by an uninformative, unreliable and uncomfortable service.
CLifton McLoud: Thanks for the philosophy lesson, by the way but there are things called standardsby which service can be measured. The standards themselves may be ‘relative’ but where or not a particular bus, its driver or the entire service measures up to them is not.
@ Mario Debono….it is because of bleeding hearts like you that we had four days of anarchy in the streets.
The police are there to serve and protect and to arrest lawbreakers, the last time I looked pulling out drivers from their vehicles, taking the keys and threatening them with physical harm is against the law.
So is blocking major arteries so that no vehicles, including emergency vehicles, can go through.
As for the AFM, what is it there for? To guard illegals or banks? When things go out of hand like what happened on Monday the AFM should have been called on to assist the police to bring about order in the island….they do not have to break heads or bones or be Rambos….they just have to do their jobs.
@Corinne Vella – Ok Corinne, I give in, you win & I lose, what else can I do? I’m still at quisisana because I enjoy coming here for a swim, after hours of hard work. But I don’t come here everyday; sometimes I’m too tired. You are welcome & if you ever come here & you spot an exemplary male member of the human species, perfectly toned, tanned & handsome on a red towel, that’s me. I’m young & single but not rich & famous yet :D Then we could go to my little brand new apartment for fruit & ice cream, or coffee, or whatever it is that you like. But please understand that I can’t keep replying – I simply loved Daphne’s blog & for once decided to make a little contribution re our 4 day civil war – & it was nice & I don’t want it to turn into an argument between us. And, another thing, I really appreciate your comments. [Composed on my 3G mobile] Now one last swim.
@Vince. Thank you for describing me as a bleeding heart. I am in business, not employed. I do understand your point, but I do understand the point the Bus drivers were trying to make. Most of them have families, and loans, and mortgages…I suspect that there is more than just anger against them because of their strike, but underlying it all there is an element of good old fashioned Maltese “hdura”…against anyone and everyone who owns a business and who has made it moderately or not. This way of thinking unfortunately has become endemic amongst the employed in Malta. I see it happening a lot in my day, and even govt. ministers are prone to it. They think we can conjure up taxes at whim, and very few of their underlings realize that without us, Malta dies. So yes, I am unashamed in having all the sympathy for the Bus Driver’s situation, but i don’t condone their methods, or the veiled threats to bring out the army to beat them up. All self-employed, be it a bus driver, be it Daphne who publishes a hell of a magazine against all odds, be it the importer who is forever having to cope with Union Fuelled Govt demands to lower prices, are part of my family. And believe me, we are the drivers of the economy. We spend the money, employ people, stay up half the night dreaming how we can do our business better, go to the ends of the earth to get business, drive buses, pick up waste, operate petrol stations, operate shops, and yet people call us “thieves” and “profiteers” and i dont know what else. It’s called hdura in Maltese. It doesn’t translate well in English. Envy would be closest, but hdura is not just envy. It’s all about wishing every harm to those who do better than you, and in using all the means at your disposal to hasten that harm. That’s how the bus/taxi/hearse/minibus drivers played into the hands of this “hdura” element of this country. They badly overstepped the mark. And suddenly everyone was against them. Something else people should know is that there are politicians who think like Maggie Thatcher out there. Her philosophy was to “Protect and succor big businesses, and to hell with the rest”. I have no doubt that someone, somewhere, is casting covetous eyes on the transport sector in Malta. Maybe there is more to this issue than meets the eye.
Mario….all they had to do was park their buses and withdraw their services. That’s what civilised members of unions do.Besides the Hearse Owners had the beef with the government not them or the Minibus and taxicabs owners.
They did not have to show the world what a bunch of idiots they are and show the world that when it comes to an emergency the cops and the AFM are useless.
By the way this has nothing to do with small business owners or their employees….this had to do with a couple of hundred ogres paralyzing the island.
@Mario Debono – Honestly Sir, I have deeply enjoyed your piece. Thoughtful & thought provoking. Interesting. Unique. I’ve read it several times & I’ll keep it to digest it further. Mind changing stuff. Bravo. I don’t know you (I do not know anyone on this blog) so you know I mean it.
@Clifton. Thank you. I Try. I may be a bit extreme, but thats me. I dont know anyone in this blog on a first name basis either. Maybe someone should suggest a real life bloggers meet for a drink somewhere. Wonder how many people would turn out?? All I know is that this blog is read avidly and immediately by the powers that be.A comment I posted was mentioned during a Ministers’ meeting. Hear that Daphne??? You should be proud of yourself.
[Most of them have families, and loans, and mortgages]
Mario, that is why they shouldn’t bite the hands that feed them.
Bus drivers have very long working hours, they remain in the ‘business’ because they are caught in a vicious circle.
@john Schembri
‘Bus drivers have very long working hours, they remain in the ‘business’ because they are caught in a vicious circle.’
A vicious circle? I should say! 11,000 euros worth of subsidy a year type of vicious circle.
unfortunately not only were they fighting for the status quo,(which means they wanted to keep the vicious circle) they were doing it without keeping the general public (ie the user and the taxpayer) on their side