Here's Vince, showing his mettle
“I had my baptism of fire when speaking at a PN club, for the first time.”
“I also had a nice discussion with Labour leader Joseph Muscat who told me if I decided not to stand on the PN ticket he would be happy to have me contest with his party.”
“A lot of my friends in the Labour Party have congratulated me and told me they accept that I am a valid candidate – even though they don’t like the idea of me contesting.”
“As a full-time employee of the GRTU – and the GRTU is an exemplary employer – we abide by the right of every European citizen to contest such elections and not to lose his job. At the end of the campaign, if I am not elected, it will be illegal not to allow me to return to my post.”
“I am contesting because I have baggage which is particular and different from the other candidates.”
– Vince Farrugia, in an interview in The Times Business section today
7 Comments Comment
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The news has been very well received.
Donavan Galea (19 minutes ago)
What a farse GRTU is!!!!!
Apparently, Mr Farrugia was present during the said meeting and no secret vote was taken to approve his candidature!! Wow, what democracy!!!
And this privileged union now backs a PN MEP candidate and to add insult to the injury, is obliging its members to vote for Mr Farrugia under the PN ticket!!
Mind you, Mr Paul Vella, who is the GRTU President is a former PN Mayor of Swieqi, so what is in a name?!?!
GRTU members stand up for action!!! Such union is now officially politicised!!
M. Catania (1 hour, 14 minutes ago)
I am thinking of another priviliged union…..can you guess?????
Dane Cauchi (1 hour, 26 minutes ago)
Some months ago when most of the Unions united and organised a national manifestation against the new utility tariffs Vince Farrugia claimed “that the GRTU was not going to take part as it did not want to politicise this issue”.
The above should be included in Farrugia’s slogan to exemplify his credibility and integrity throughout the years.
No wonder the country is in such abysmal state.
Jason Spiteri (1 hour, 34 minutes ago)
Everyone seems shocked that VF is showing up in blue after being a supposedly neutral Union man.
I’m more shocked byt he fact that he intends keeping his union post if elected – i.e. he plans to be an MEP for his members, rather for all Maltese. Consumers beware.
Alex Saliba (1 hour, 37 minutes ago)
@M Callus…. int bis-serjeta!!!! lets talk about future don’t remain stuck up in the past like your party!! Its 2009 and not March 08!!! if you want to be a bit more critical just go for a course at AZAD maybe they are doing some part time courses for aspiring PN spin bloggers!!
J.A. Agius (1 hour, 45 minutes ago)
Anyone ready to forecast the effect on the GRTU in the short term, the medium term and the long term? On the GRTU, not on Vince Farrugia. That is another matter.
j.mercieca (1 hour, 54 minutes ago)
din hi haga tal-misthija.fejn hi l-integrita tal-GRTU.?il-vittmi ta dan kollu huma il-membri tal-GRTU….jew tirtiraw din l-istqarrija jew nirrizenjaw mill-GRTU.
C Calleja (2 hours, 12 minutes ago)
its a good way fro a candidate to finance his campaign
joe grech (2 hours, 20 minutes ago)
Just think! the GRTU is a privilaged Union for the PN. Any challenge?
E Zammit (2 hours, 23 minutes ago)
Unbelievable ! Shameful ! Disgusting!
This is totally unacceptable! How dare the GRTU support a biased candidate. Endorse him even more…. I urge small and medium-sized business to stop paying their membership fee s to GRTU because in turn they are endorsing a candidate on a particular ticket and not seeking the interest of every business.
If these things keep on happening in Malta we will live to see democracy deteriorate!
M Callus (2 hours, 24 minutes ago)
Kemm tatkhom gewwa li hiereg Vince Farrugia mal-PN. Ahseb u ara f’Marzu tas-sena ilu kemm tatkhom gewwa wara li kontu xbajtu ticcelebraw qalulkhom li tliftu!!!!!
Donavan Galea (2 hours, 31 minutes ago)
GRTU’s hidden agenda has now been disclosed. Shameful!!!! What a disgrace!! I urge the faithful GRTU members to resign from such an irresponsible union.
As a matter of fact Mr Farrugia is not credible neither – may I remind readers that he was one of the officials that has campaigned against the EU by addressing a CNI meeting!!!
Alex Saliba (2 hours, 41 minutes ago)
Shame on GRTU this is total nonsense!!!! This is the way a union deals with such situation!!! yes and all GRTU member are paying Mr Farruigia so that he woudl spend a couple of months campaigning on behalf of Nationalist Party. The same party who has put endless burduns on small and medium sized buisnesses!! GRTU members be courageous and leave this ‘union’ which definately is not there to defend your rights but is more interested to campaign in favor of the same party which is putting great burduns on your shoulders!!
D.Micallef (3 hours, 5 minutes ago)
…and i urge, GRTU members, and small and medium-sized businesses to stop paying their membership to the GRTU which serves for Mr. Vince to get his pay whilst campaigning for June’s elections. what an utter lack of respect towards peoples intelligence.
Mark Mifsud (3 hours, 7 minutes ago)
Director General of a Union candidates himself with the a major political party!….. Analyze this sentence…. disgrace….. nowhere to he heard…. only in Malta…….. does Dr. Gonzi know the real definiton of a union…?
It’s unbelievable how the LP has organised itself in the blogs to fight Vince Farrugia’s candidature. For the record, his approval enjoys cross-party support. Retailers and small businesses know that Vince Farrugia has been their very effective shield. I go on record that as a council member of GRTU, we are not a “workers” union as most of you people but a Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises, with the well-being of our businesses at heart. Vince Farrugia was, is and always will be our greatest asset, fighting for us irrespective of colour or creed, PN or MLP. And he continues to do so, and this is something that every GRTU member knows. His approval by the council was only right, as it’s the least we could do. Vince has been director-general for 15 long years, and he has always done a sterling job. Anyone wishing to dissent has all the space to do so in GRTU, but it’s the majority who decided, and if we have come to a point that because of some very frustrated Labour commenters majority rule is questioned, then we can kiss democracy goodbye.
[Daphne – I think you’ll find that most of the antagonism is genuine, and that it is coming from Nationalist Party supporters. You certainly can’t call me a Labour elf. Face it: he’s just not liked. As for Labour, Joseph Muscat has just told him that their door is always open to him. So why doesn’t he go? That’s the party of opportunists. “Fighting for us irrespective of colour or creed” – got a lot of black Jews in the GRTU, have you?]
Forgot to say that I wanted to continue Corinne’s posts from timesofmalta.com, because that’s what this is. As for black Jews, sorry…..we just don’t have those. But we do have a lot of variegated red and blue Catholics and Mammon worshippers. Will that do?
As for people not liking the man, well, I suppose that puts him right up there in your league then, wouldn’t you?
[Daphne – Not at all: I am as liked as I am disliked. You can’t really say the same of Vince Farrugia. And you can call me many things, but an opportunist is not one of them. People are not overly fond of opportunists.]
Mario Debono: It doesn’t seem as though all GRTU members share your enthusiasm, but leave that detail aside. Your director-general has stepped out of the GRTU cocoon into the wider world. That exposes him to all sorts of questions he might have been shielded against. You might think of him as the GRTU candidate. Well, tough. He’s offering himself up to the entire electorate. That means slings and not a few arrows. I’m sure he’s up to it. Why do you find it hard to handle?
Methinks the number two wig of the land has himself somewhat cross legged.
@ Daphne: I think Joseph Muscat saw in Vince Farrugia a good vote-catcher. Vince felt more comfortable with the PN. About his employment with the GRTU: a person can be consistent; we had Dr George Abela who organised the Malta Dockers Union , it does not automatically mean that this union is tainted with politics.
I can understand that if there is a hot issue between ‘his’ party (in government) and the GRTU he has to make THE choice.
@ Mario : I liked the reference to the “mammon worshippers” . Can we add with them the grippers (or kneelers) and the bankers?
Ooo-la-la – Hell hath no fury like Mario Debono scorned