Here we go. Again.
Edward Scicluna: he thinks worker-directors are great stuff – you know, like at the Malta Drydocks, where Sammy Meilaq was JUST FANTASTIC.
This is a letter published in The Times today:
Scary notions
by Alfred Formosa, Sliema
I see that Labour leader Joseph Muscat has pledged to form a coalition between workers and employers to create wealth (October 27). Now that is indeed a weird statement to make.
A coalition is defined as an alliance, especially a temporary one, of people, factions, parties, or nations.
A case in point is the so-called coalition between former Nationalist MP, now independent, Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, and the Government in which he expects the latter to consult him before deciding to move any legislation in Parliament.
Is Dr Muscat expecting employers to consult workers on initiatives that boards of directors decide to implement for the good of their organisations?
Will these “coalitions” bypass unions, which are traditionally the bridge between workers and employers or are we to expect the re-introduction of the “worker-director” mooted by Edward Scicluna in his article in L-Orizzont of May 7?
Why do I get this scary feeling of déjà vu?
This brilliant idea is being pushed by Mintoffian Economics Man Edward Scicluna. Here’s an excerpt from a piece he wrote for his website:
Il-Ġermaniżi għandhom mudell ieħor uniku, dak ta’ kif għandu jkollok parteċipazzjoni vera fl-azjenda, bħal per eżempju, fejn direttur ħaddiem jipparteċipa fuq il-bord tal-kumpanija. Aħna kellna dan l-esperiment. Kien fit-Tarznari u xi bnadi oħra, fosthom xi banek u kumpaniji parastatali. Izda ma kellux sapport, beda jmajna u fl-aħħar twaqqaf għal kollox minn dan il-gvern.
Fil-Ġermanja dan huwa l-mezz kif jintlaħaq ftehim bejn il-ħaddiema u minn jimpjegagħom biex jagħmlu ċertu sagrifiċji f’ċertu żminijiet partikolari, pero imbagħad jiggwadanjaw u jaqsmu f’dak il-ġid li jkun inħoloq b’ċertu miżuri li jkunu ittieħdu. Jiġifieri dan il-mudell irnexxa biex il-Ġermanja tiddivalwa internament u b’hekk iggwadanjat il-kompetittivita’ li ġiet riflessa f’dik li hi esportazzjoni qawwija u tkabbir ekonomiku.
What can I say? Maybe German worker-directors are nothing like Maltese worker-directors, whose first loyalty has always been to the Labour Party.
That’s why the experiment failed so catastrophically in Malta, because these worker-directors acted repeatedly against the best interests of the company and in favour of the best interests of the Labour government/bazuzli/the GWU which nominated them. It’s not because the system “had no support”.
And then which example of the amazing success of worker-directors does Professor Scicluna cite, in all his wisdom? The most spectacular failure of all, the one which helped break Malta’s back to the tune of hundreds of millions of liri: the bleeding (literally) Malta Drydocks.
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One of the responsibilities of the worker-directors in Germany is to choose, along very specific criteria, who to lay off.
It was the salient point when the role was accepted by industry. The unions chose to partake actively in the set-up, effectively removing unions from internal representation pending employers leaving Germany due the ongoing strikes.
In the case of Malta Drydocks, it would have been someone from the GWU who would have had to proceed with downsizing.
I lived through workers’ participation in the Dockyard when workers were voted into the Council.
Management got to know of the Worker Board policy from the shop floor.
If things went wrong, management was blamed; if a policy was a success (very rarely) then well done the workers and the GWU.
It was a complete failure – a time when management had no say in how the company was run. Scicluna should go back to the drawing board and learn from the ‘Yard fiasco.
This Edward Scicluna has really got it all wrong.
German competitiveness is not the result of some worker-director experiment or some other socialist Mintoffian crap. German competitiveness today is the result of measures taken by former Chancellor Schroeder (not Merkel) who ironically was a social democrat and who radically changed labour laws.
There was no profit sharing agreement between employers and employees. The profits are pocketed by the investors/employers (as they should, since they take the risks) and workers get their salaries.
End of story.
This guy is really a dinosaur.
If we need any remembering of worker directors and all that other socialist shit we were fed in eighties, then let’s remember Malta Drydocks. It was fully run by worker directors, foremost of whom Sammy Meilaq….and guess what.. they ran it into the ground.
What a bad idea. In Malta the worker director scheme was a complete failure from day one. It simply did not work at all.
These typically socialist gimmicks are meant to appease workers through pseudo participation. Next we will be hearing Labour telling us that the four day week reminiscent of the Mintoffian socialists was not a bad idea.
In 1870 George Potter, a prominent unionist and radical journalist wrote, ‘The working man belonging to the upper-class of his order is a member of the aristocracy of the working-classes. He is a man of some culture, is well read in politics and social history….His self respect is also well developed.’
In Malta, however, this aristocracy was confined to the crap de la crap.
Prof. Edward Scicluna’s comment did in fact remind me of KMB’s “Aristocracy of the Workers.”
Who would want a member of that aristocracy on his/her company’s board of directors?
Without going into the merits of the value adding function of worker directors I have to disagree that Maltese worker-directors’, first loyalty has always been to the Labour Party.
I remember for example Joe Spiteri Staines in Mid Med Bank and others whose names escape me in BOV where this was certainly not the case.
Employee participation and worker directors in Germany stem from the situation immediately after WW2 when German industry and the German economy were practically non-existent.
Employees were given direct participation and representation on the board of directors in consideration of their direct contribution to rebuilding major industries literally out of the rubble and in the lack of availability of capital investment.
Malta Drydocks in contrast was handed to the workers on a plate, with a direct financial pipeline connected to Mid Med bank ensuring a constant flow of public funds to sustain thousands of workers in a loss making set up.
The resultant accrued Lm300,000,000 (Euro 750,000,000) loss now still forms a significant proportion of Malta’s national debt, and we are still burdened by the very substantial interest payments that go to financing that legacy left to us by the aristocracy of the workers.
Jesus Lordy Christ help us. IT ALREADY EXISTS. It is called employee stock options. But of course that only works when you have efficient companies and growth. What Professor Fraud has in mind is inefficient workers sitting on the inefficient directing board of inefficient companies. Way to go, Labour.
I’ll leave Harry to explain the rest.
You’ve done a good job, yourself, Baxxter. Socialists cannot comprehend that employers, who invest and, therefore incorporate a risk factor in their calculations, understand that their employees are key to an adequate return for their investment.
Having invested in my own business on the rock, I fully understand the selfish attitude of the socialists.
However, by treating employees as one of the most important factors in running a profitable business, and rewarding them for their contribution, one can grow the business for the benefit of all.
The best way to protect workers is through full employment, since this gives them the opportunity to change jobs if they are dissatisfied with their current job.
The rest is hogwash.
Scicluna qieghed ibella’ r-ross bil-labra.
Lic-cwiec Mintoffjani.
U lil hadd iehor.
Edward Scicluna, please provide us with a copy of your Form Class II report.
I don’t know anything about Germany’s way of conducting business (and I don’t care) but I do know that in spite of the financial turmoil affecting other EU countries, Malta is still afloat (and here I do care).
Why change the system adopted by the P.N. (a success) to that adopted by the P.L. or M.L.P. (a failure)?
Dak professur -dak jifhem taf – Lola, gejja it-tombla dalghodu?
Sur professur, li tesprimi opinjoni hija accettabbli imma li ddawwar l-istorja kif jaqbillek le.
Ghal informazzjoni tieghek kien il-gvern ta’ Sant li f’laqgha urgenti tal-parlament, fl-10 ta’ Frar, kien xolja il-kunsill tat-tarzna. U dan meta f’ meeting Bormla qabel l-elezzjoni ta’ 1987 kien esprima il-fiducja tieghu fit-tmexxija ta’ Sammy Meilaq u la bella kumpanijja tat-tmexxijja tal-kunsill tat-tarzna.
Ara dik id-dahqa ta’ Sant ma jsemmuhiex il-MLP u issa jigi Scicluna u jghid li il-gvern prezenti xolja il-kunsill. Gidba sfaccata.
Forsi jigi Privitera u jghid li hux veru