News • January 25 2004

Joanna Drake’s expectations

A little discipline will not hurt us, Joanna Drake tells MATTHEW VELLA, on the need to face up to the reality of the EU. Brussels bites.

Joanna Drake, Chairperson of the Occupational Health and Safety Authority and former campaigner in Moviment Iva, hopes one day that the European Parliament elections will not be fought between partisan troops. That is one aspiration that will not be seen this year. "The role of the MEP is not to push the government agenda but to sense the pulse of Maltese society and protect the interests of the Maltese through the political groups in the European Parliament," Drake says. "I understand that a government would want to repeat its electoral success with a majority in the European Parliament, but this is not necessary. But we are still polarised to see this in Malta, and the longer this polarisation takes, the less will the benefits be for the Maltese. Whoever the MEPs, these have to work together to achieve the best for Malta."
Her hopes in a contest between independent MEP hopefuls are however trounced by what she admits to be the power of the party machines which make it impossible for candidates not to contest through the political parties. Touted as a possible PN MEP candidate herself, Drake says she will consider that question "if and when" it is made to her. But she says that she would consider the offer.
Under the spotlight, yet another crusader for the European dream, and one whose ‘new spring’, as eagerly (yet so mistakenly) predicted by Eddie Fenech Adami, may have to be delayed for the long-term as Malta’s teething pains in its accession to the EU start feeling more like an ulcer.
The months to come will prove historical for the country, facing economic difficulties and impending change of leadership in the Nationalist Party. Joanna Drake says the leadership decision in the PN should be concluded as quickly as possible, to quell uncertainties. She senses a lack of aggressiveness in the drive to protect the interests of the Maltese within the EU, and fears that if the government does not step up on this zeal, there might be some stumbling blocks, especially if the leadership question trudges on. As for the Labour Party, she still doesn’t buy that their EU stance has become fully-fledged ‘European’, and she remains unconvinced the MLP is ready to be proactive in terms of Malta’s progress within the EU.
Today, the PN government apologists are denying that redundancies in the beleaguered textile industry have nothing to do with the European Union, now that the island is just months away from frills-included membership, but with the fact that China and the Maghreb have dirt cheap labour costs.
That the tourism and manufacturing industries on the island decided to all descend into collective crisis straight after the end of the EU referendum campaign justifies much animosity towards the government. The only spring the Maltese have seen so far has been the cool breeze that swept in during Nationalist re-election in 2003. And many ask if we were caught up in the mass hysteria that Fenech Adami plunged the nation in, who juxtaposed heaven and hell for months on end up till March 2003.
I ask Joanna Drake if the impromptu restructuring exercises, factory and hotel closures emerging in tandem, are not just mere coincidences. How much had the government, in its campaign for EU membership, pressured industry and tourism in suspending their restructuring (and redundancies) until after the EU referendum?
"That the closures are a strange coincidence is true, where suddenly everyone is undergoing cost-cutting and restructuring. I can say that this could have been done earlier. But you cannot blame these companies, which before the EU referendum were still uncertain about their future. I don’t know what the government did. I don’t know if it suited the government to have these companies postpone their restructuring. I wasn’t present in that environment. On the other hand, do you blame these companies for postponing their restructuring during those controversial and uncertain thirteen years?"
Joanna Drake says that Malta has wasted precious energy in political squabbling, at the expense of paced restructuring: "I had long been saying this. We wasted thirteen years debating our entry into the EU, creating much uncertainty on the way. Since our direction was never defined during these years, we are suffering the consequences of procrastination today. We wasted our energy where we should have never wasted them."
She disagrees however in treating lightly Fenech Adami’s earlier warnings that staying out of the EU would have been a backwards step for the island. I ask her if after all, we could have waited.
"I think that without the pressure of a team, those standards would never be bettered. Without playing against stronger teams, we would never have had the ambition to raise our standards higher. I think the European club is a spur that will help us achieve higher levels of quality. It teaches us what we have to achieve, and without the pressure of the team we can never brush up our act. I don’t believe we could have waited.
"I expected the EU debate should have been decided in anything but thirteen years. Because of this divergence in opinion, it was natural that both parties would be rallying the people in the most forceful of ways. There was no other way for both parties. If only we have to consider ex-communist countries which after decades of communism decided to sit at a table and decide their future in so little time. The great steps in political maturity of these countries is unseen in Malta. It was a great misallocation of resources and a waste of energy."
I ask Drake how we could justify ‘new spring’ in the climate of today, with the General Workers Union on the warpath to protest rising levels of unemployment, a debilitated tourism sector slowly falling apart, and so many companies which promised strength in a post-EU scenario – such as VF clothing – closing down operations.
"Of course we can. That will be in the long term, and we always said, as Moviment Iva, that the EU meant discipline and regulations. Words such as accountability are not music to the government’s ears, but in the long term we are going to reap the benefits. The EU provides a framework for progress, to help countries below EU standard reach these levels of success. But this comes over time.
"As far as the criticism you mentioned is concerned – should we criticise those players which are carrying out restructuring today? I think it is unjust to criticise them. These are people who were investing money and employing people, turning the wheels of the economy round. If they had started their restructuring exercise ten years ago, in times of uncertainty about the EU question, the risks would have been higher. We had just emerged from decades of protectionist economy then."
Reaching higher standards has increased costs for factories and companies. Many complain at the stark rigidity in which the acquis has been implemented, prompting full-scale Anglo-Saxon discipline into the lulled, Mediterranean laissez-faire of Maltese society. The impending smoking regulations, turning most enclosed, public areas in smoke-free zones, have also caused those to muse that Brussels is no fun.
"Nobody likes discipline," Joanna Drake says. "Nobody likes rules but in the long run everyone realises, like children do when they grow up, how these rules were essential for their formation. I believe that this a process of discipline and rules which unfortunately is only starting now. In Scandinavia, environment had long been a national priority, much before it became a priority in Central Europe. Today, these countries have higher levels than the European average. But within the EU there is compromise for those countries which cannot reach the maximum levels other had reached. These are rules which have factored in the evolutionary phases of its Member States. These are actually minimum requirements."
Drake however believes that these new regulations will eventually be accommodated within the long-term, even appreciated, since discipline enables people to be more civil, and be aware of their obligations. "These regulations are tying in the state and the authorities. Obligations create rights for the general public."
As Chairperson of the Occupational Health and Safety, obligations and discipline are indeed a factor with which Joanna Drake finds herself attuned to.
The main priority for the OHSA right now is the enforcement of the legislation, a body of work that took two years to complete, ensuring this was in line with the acquis communautaire. Implementation is now the next step.
"We need employers and employees to be in touch with their rights and obligations in this scenario. There are those who don’t know about their rights, and others who do not care about their obligations. Enforcement hasn’t been that rigid at this point in time. This is a new culture for Malta. We have to educate and open peoples’ minds to this new reality. Naturally, education has to be ongoing. What we have started to do is take enforcement a step higher. Our team of inspectors are ready to start carrying out this exercise of enforcement, but not as an exercise in issuing fines. This exercise is one in which we are first going to try and find understanding with employers."
Drake says there is need to issue fines however, although the authority’s job is not going to be that of acting as a policeman. She talks about working as partners with employers.
"There is always a core of employers who are interested to see what their obligations are. Others are however not aware of this reality. So we have to work to push the message through. This means we are going to be strong on this issue, and where we see that enforcement is slacking we are going to be ready to issue fines."
Unsurprisingly, it is the construction sector that presents itself as one of the major challenges at achieving. Drake says there should be greater specialisation in the different jobs within the construction, citing specialised skills for those driving cranes. A consortium should be entrusted with certifying workers with the appropriate skills to take up jobs within the sector they work in, such as construction.
"Enforcement will help to get those who believe they can get away with it in Court by issuing fines there and then. I think this step will help people become more compliant and show more seriousness at health and safety on the workplace."