How boring and exhausting
You would think that the GRTU – the shopkeepers’ union now masquerading as the ‘Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises’ – would have twigged by now that there are better ways to drum up business than throwing one public tantrum after another.
Is Vince Farrugia going to carry on behaving like this even while campaigning for the votes that will help him board the MEP gravy-train?
Fr Joe Borg remarked on his blog some days ago that a bunch of middle-aged trade unionists on the steps of Castille do not quite engage the public imagination, so they must try harder to make themselves relevant. He couldn’t have been more right.
www.timesofmalta.com, Friday, 23 January
GRTU fighting utility bills with judicial protest
A judicial protest has been filed by the Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises (GRTU) against the chairman of Enemalta, the president of the Malta Resources Authority, and the ministers responsible for resources and infrastructure claiming that the new utility rates discriminated against small businesses.
The protest called for the situation to be rectified, backdated to last October 1, and warned that further legal action would be taken if this was not done.
12 Comments Comment
Leave a Comment
I guess now Mr. Farrugia will expect us common people to support his little crusade. U hallina!!
Kullhadd jitkellem kif jaqbillu daph minjaf kieku bhalissa kien hemm pl fil gvern ,kontx tara boaring il grtu tattakka lil gvern tal gurnata.
[Daphne – Dejjem narahom boring tal-GRTU. Kif qal FrJoe, salt rgiel ta’ mezz-eta jipprotestaw u jaghmlu x-xenati ma tantx huma eccitanti.]
Yes, we are sooo boring aren’t we? All 7000 of us shopkeepers who masquerade as something else. That’s your opinion, Daphne; it’s certainly not the opinion of other people, including the government. You truly have no knowledge of how this organisation works and functions, do you? At least, look beyond your hate of Vince Farrugia and take the trouble to find out. We are not a fly-by-night operation. I extend a personal invitation to show you around myself, and I would be very pleased to do so, should you muster the courage to take up the invitation.
Average age of GRTU council is around 45. Middle-aged we are certainly, but not so stupid as to realise that by means of the new electricity rates, we are funding larger businesses who have capped rates. We are funding the Farsons, the SGS, the Hiltons and Westins, and other large organisations who cajole and threaten that they will lay off workers if the government does not cap their electricity usage payments.
The fact is that for large users, electricity is capped at 13c per unit, for the rest of the SME’s we represent, its 18c per unit. We, and by we I also mean you, as I expect your publishing company uses electricity and is an SME, are subsidising big business by a whopping 38% charge on our electricity bill. Yes, 38%. Now you may offset that against advertising revenue you may get from these relatively large companies, but many businesses don’t have that kind of luxury do they?
We have not protested, or gone on Castille steps….it’s not our way. We are fighting this legally. At least, we do better than the bantam cocks over our heads, who are pretty satisfied at the deal they got from government, and who are so much in your apple’s eye.
I don’t expect you to be fair, Daphne, because you are not. But I do expect that you publish the truth, because you have a social responsibility as a columnist. Or am I mistaken?
[Daphne – (1) No, I don’t have a social responsibility as a columnist. Unions have social responsibilities, which they don’t live up to necessarily. Columnists are entertainers and have no more social responsibility than Ira Losco. (2) I don’t hate Vince Farrugia; I think he’s ridiculous, charging about in that auburn toupee with that perennially angry, humourless expression, one time fighting against VAT and helping bringing about the collapse of the pro-EU government, almost demolishing our chances at EU membership, and the next standing for election as an MEP under the PN ticket. (3) That the GRTU is tedious is not only my opinion, but the opinion of thousands of other people who switch off, switch channels or turn the page and sigh ‘not again’; there are limits. Fine, so we’re not involved and that’s why we feel that way, but I can tell you this: the GRTU has singularly failed to capture the public imagination. (4) Yes, I can see what the problem is and I can see that it’s most unfair, but you haven’t explained yourselves very well and all the public out here sees is that bunch of middle-aged men agitating again. If you’re fed-up of the situation, then people are fed up of the GRTU. You have a big public affairs problem and you don’t understand why, or that you must do something about it.]
Biex is self employed u sidien ta negozji zghar u medji u SME s jaghtu kas ta l inbiex tieghek dwar Vince Farrugia trid tkun ghamilt nitfa milli ghamel hu ghalihom!
U jekk il kontijiet tad dawl u l ilma ma thosshomx u l ingustizzja ma negozji zghar u medji ma tarahiex u ma jimpurtakx ma jfissirx li inti u Father Joe ghandkom ragun,il maggoranza jhosshu bhal Vince Farrugia u qeghdin wara l GRTU!
U billi Vince Farrugia jaf johrog ghal MEP mal PN,(inti qisek hadtha for granted) ma jfissirx li Vince Farrugia jsir pupu tal PN!Tghid mhux se tghidlu inti x’ghandhu jghid! Vince Farrugia huwa dak li hu, mhux se tbiddlhu inti jew il PN, u s-sahha tieghudejjem kienet u ghada li jghid il verita…il poplu xeba mill arroganza….u bil haqq meta jerghu jidhru salt irgiel mezz eta jipprotestaw u jaghmlu x xenati nitlob lill Vince Farrugia u l Bencini u l shabhom jibghatu ghalik forsi dak li jkun jecita ruhu hafna izjed…..skuzani ghalik ma nibghathux Father Joe…(ghal ragunijiet ovvji)!
X’ inhu l-average age tal-irgiel li jixxenjaw fil-parlament anyway?
[Daphne – It all depends on whether you leave Joe Debono Grech in or out of the reckoning.]
You don’t suppose you want to take the job of being our PR consultants do you, Daphne? After all its something that your company does? Hmmmmm…..thats a thought, wouldn’t you agree?
Or would you have some conflict of interest with the geriatrics over our head?
[Daphne – Working as an outside consultant for organisations with territorial incumbents is a nightmare, but I can give you a few pointers. For example, it would help the GRTU’s image no end if occasionally, just occasionally, it pronounced itself publicly about an issue that is beyond its narrow, sectarian interests. That kind of thing makes people set up and take notice in a positive way. You might argue back that the GRTU is there to protect narrow, sectarian interests and has no business commenting about anything else, and strictly speaking, you would be right. But if you want to engage the interest of the public, you have to speak about things that the public is interested in, and the price of electricity to SMEs is just not interesting. It’s not even interesting if you own an SME, let alone. It would also help if your leader didn’t look so grim all the time, and if he were changed from time to time, because out here we’re beginning to think that it’s a sinecure. Also, the negativity is too predictable. Remember the paradox of worry: when people are concerned about the economy, the state of the country etc etc, their minds self-protectively shy away from bad news and downer stories and seek out the sort of thing that makes them feel good. You might think you’ve tuned into popular sentiment by grumbling aloud, but instead you’re putting people off because they are worried enough already and want to listen to people who make them feel better. Grumbling and complaining only work when people are feeling well-off and secure, hence the success of Labour and Vince’s anti-VAT campaign in the mid-1990s, when everyone was feeling like they were on a roll.]
[Daphne – It all depends on whether you leave Joe Debono Grech in or out of the reckoning.]
Hehe, tajba din.
Although you make some vaid points, you are not totally right. I will tell you one thing. When we do speak out on other things, and anyone who attended our last conference can attest to that, we are usually edited out by The Times et al. If you look at our online newsletter, you will see that we speak about many other things. I will put you on our mailing list for that. As regards our leader, the elected president of GRTU is Paul Abela. We employ a director general, as does the Chamber of Commerce. He has been there for 15 years, and yes, his name is Vince Farrugia. We do not see any need to change him, he is an excellent conduit to what we collectively feel.
[Daphne – Ah, but is he effective in getting you what you want?]
Well, he is a darn sight more effective than his counterparts in other business organisations who rely on the “Old Boys’ Network” to get anything for its members.We don’t go for these modern mazuneria methods for getting results. And no, we are not always successful, but we have something that no-one else has, which is the means to be annoyingly militant.
I’m not saying we are right to be militant, but our members’ interests come first and foremost. We are fast losing patience with a civil service that manages to bend politicians to its will, when the contrary should be the norm. Our civil service, with the exceptions of a too few shining examples, still consider businesses are dirty and yaqq!, and they act accordingly.They manage to mediocratise (is that a new word I have invented here?) even our best politicians. They are bereft of ideas on how to make Malta hum, and they can only generate revenue by taxation than by coming up with new ideas.
They obfuscate, they manipulate, they do anything to protect the institution of the civil service. It’s almost like watching Humphrey Appleby in action, multiplied many times over. Yes, people like Vince have a function, but GRTU has mellowed recently. We engage and discuss much more, and try and convince. That’s the EU way. I’m not too sure I am happy with that myself. I am an impatient man and want results yesterday. But the collective is more important than the individual. So yes, in this scenario, Vince has his uses, and it will be a sad day for the GRTU if he becomes an MEP, but a good day for Malta. But God help the European parliament if he is elected, because the man doesn’t sleep.
[Daphne – Those who, you claim, rely on the old boys’ network get more respect and when they make a rare pronouncement, people listen and take it seriously, unlike with the GRTU, which gets the same sort of attention as a child lying on the floor and screaming – again. You described it as having “the means to be annoyingly militant” – well, I’m afraid that the operative word here is ‘annoyingly’. You say “We are fast losing patience with a civil service that manages to bend politicians to its will, when the contrary should be the norm.” The contrary should be the norm? Maybe in Saudi Arabia, China and Nigeria, but not in a western democracy. The civil service has built-in measures to protect it against the depredations of here-today-gone-tomorrow politicians, and that’s the way it should be. “God help the European parliament if Vince is elected” – I agree, but not for the same reasons. “The man doesn’t sleep” – maybe that’s why he looks so angry all the time and has no sense of humour.]
Sorry Daphne, we elect parties and politicians to do what they say they will do, not to have electoral programmes diluted by a civil service using, to use your own words the “built-in measures to protect it against the depredations of here-today-gone-tomorrow politicians” excuse.
That doesn’t wash with me, nor does it wash with the rest of Malta. That’s the sorry state of the PN today and (unhopefully) the PL tomorrow. Politicians are distracted by the civil service – once elected until they become a mere shadow of themselves, and in effect, become glorified civil servants within a few short years. I suspect that’s the greatest problem facing our prime minister today, and his greatest frustration. The party is there to elect a government to govern on its electoral programme, not vice-versa. You have convoluted my argument to serve your own means. You’re good at that.
As regards which organisation commands more respect, maybe in the rarified atmosphere of your hallowed existence, the old boys will win hands down even if the GRTU was led by the Pope with Mahatma Gandhi as his deputy. You see, its a question of common decency. Some have it, some don’t. Some reason that they have a God-given right to be exclusive importers of this and that, to speak about business as if they were the oracle at Delphi, and to generally use the whispering tactic to get rid of the opposition. There are some decent people amongst the old boys, relatives of yours even, but they are in danger of losing themselves.
We are proud to be annoyingly militant when all else fails. The operative word is when all else fails…we don’t strike, but we can refuse to open our shops and businesses. Sometimes it’s the only language Politicians understand. The civil servants who try their damnedest to influence them are not interested in partnering with private enterprise to make this country better. They’re just interested in the status quo, of doddering from one crisis to another.
This country needs a new deal. And every time we go through another mediocre day and nothing happens, then we have failed once more.That’s why I love election time. I start hoping that something will change, that we experience the same buzz of the post-1987 Eddie years. I am sadly deluded some months later.
Maybe it’s time to throw out the baby with the bathwater. At the GRTU we are trying to do something different and positive but at the same time, we just can’t let the technocrats win, can’t we. Enemalta has been a financial mess ever since I can remember. Now it’s looking to us to solve its financial mess. Yes, but not by making some more equal than others. That’s why we are fighting the new tariff structure. Once it gets to the EU, it will be they who will stop it, not us. It’s unjust, it’s unfair and it’s heinous. And you, Daphne, come out against us because we dare do something civilized about it. Maybe we should have listened to the militants after all.
[Daphne – “we don’t strike, but we can refuse to open our shops and businesses”. Smart move, Mario – especially after the last few weeks of mind-numbing complaints about low sales. As for your customers, they’ll raise two fingers at you and shop elsewhere, possibly over the internet.]
In my view Vince Farrugia is indeed a leader and has given the GRTU strength with the authorities. The governments of the day know that you trample on the GRTU (read Vince Farrugia) at your peril. The VAT and CET episodes prove this.
What I find ridiculous is that the GRTU should be led by its elected president and not by a staff member. The good thing about having an elected leader is that when its members deem it needs a change of leadership it can do so.
Mario Debono trashes the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Enterprise (why do we always have the longest titles in Malta?) as geriatrics. At least the Chamber is led by an elected member (calling Helga Ellul geriatric, x’taghmililek!). Also, the president cannot serve more than two consecutive terms which ensures that nobody monopolises the organisation, however well connected the person is.
This is the problem with the GRTU: it has been monopolised by one person, who, it must be granted, has proven to be effective for its members.
However the person obviously wants to prove a point, that he is greater than the organisation and “above it”. He has succeeded even in usurping the nomenclature “chamber”. What’s wrong in being the General Retailers and Traders Union? The Chamber of Commerce has tried very hard to come to an agreement with the GRTU (and the Sullivans) to retake the ground floor level of the Borsa building. Again the GRTU is adamant about not reaching any agreement, although the space is inadequate for its purposes.
It is evident thet the Vince Farrugia loves the adulation and glory.
@ Mario – In your comments I often notice jibes at successful people, where you seem to equate business success solely with connections. Mario, you could be born into a business family and run the business to the ground. And conversely there are self-made billionaires. These people had no connections when they were penniless. It is very normal in the business world that successful people connect and do ventures together. It is normal because they have the capital to do so, and obtain synergies from their areas of expertise. This happens the world over.
Of course then you do get some successful people who would have had a helping hand from some politician or good connection. But again if these people do not have the entrepreneurial spirit they will nonetheless still fail. If I may, I will cite two examples. Mr Pace of Magic Kiosk, who notwithstanding a very good helping hand, ended up in debt, and Tumas Fenech who ended up building a thriving business empire.
I admire successful people for their foresight, risk-taking and determination. Unfortunately other people just envy their success.
[Daphne – The thing is that Mario is pretty well-connected himself. He comes from the family in Zurrieq, which employed half the town and beyond.]
It’s actually two families, Daphne, but I had no silver spoon in my mouth. I had absolutely no help either from my family in the beginning because of grave disagreements early on in life that separated me in all but blood-ties because I did not follow the approved family line of business. What I have is my own. I started in business virtually penniless. What little connections I have, Daphne, pale into insignificance when compared to yours.
David, GRTU is led by its elected president and Council. And I assure you I have no chips on my shoulder about business connections, but let’s face it, they help a lot in this toqba of ours. I have been to Arab countries where the culture is just as obtuse, but where in fact it is easier than Malta to do business in. And I envy no one their success, but see too many people thwarted just because they don’t have the right connections in banks, government, etc.
I admire successful people but I hate scoundrels.