Oral history of the Malta Dockyard: Sammy Meilaq

(00:30) He attended both primary and secondary school at the Lyceum. At age 14 he obtained his O-levels. In 1965 he was 16 years old and he sat for the ‘ezami tat-Tarzna’. As a result, in 25th August 1965, he was chosen to work in the Dockyard. 

(02:00) He did four years as an apprenticeship with ‘Swan Hunter’. After 2 years apprenticeship he states that workers will be assigned to a job with instructors who worked at the Dockyard. Then he mentions that after four years as an apprentice they had to sit for a trade test-which required them to make a small chain hawse pipe (kubija) and part of the fore end of a ship (pruwa) made of steel in only a week. During the process everyone had to cut and carry his own material.

Trade Union-Reasons for trade unions

(06:30) After 1969, he was sent with a gang of the afloat section. The gang in the dockyard was well established and he describes it as his second family. Once he went on board ships, he realised that the trade unionism was well advanced and militant. He realised that this was due to work conditions. He states that although the work done is mainly manual, it is still creative as sometimes they had to create their own tools. 

Trade Union-Reasons for trade unions 

(09:15) He also realised that trade unionism in Dockyard was the vanguard compared to the rest of the industry. He states that even prior he joined the Dockyard, the leaders of the GWU were mainly dockyard workers. His work was of a shipwright afloat and he describes it as adventurous although dangerous. He describes in some details the conditions of work especially onboard the ships.

(11:30) In 1975, meaning 10 years after he joined the Dockyard, the Labour Government offered the Dockyard workers to manage the Dockyard themselves as self-management. A referendum took place and the majority agreed that they should accept the offer. 

(13:15) The council depended on the management and he then kept learning furthermore and was elected for 22 years in the Dockyard Council-where in the first 10 years he was a member and deputy chairman and his final 12 years he held the role of a chairman of the Dockyard. When in 1997 the role of chairman ended, he spent some peaceful time (fil-kwiet) as a shipwright for a number of years. Then he was pressured from the workers and the GWU to take full responsibility of the union. At first, he refused, but his colleagues signed a petition, and he gained the role of a president of the metal worker’s section. 

(17:00) The Dockyard was then privatised. The government at that time decided to privatise and decrease the functions and importance of the Dockyard. Meilaq states that the work he carried out as a shipwright was very useful and helped him to develop his personality better, as he became more responsible. In addition, his role as a chairman of the Dockyard and as a President of the union, made him to develop contacts with the government.

 

Entering the dockyard-Swan Hunter / Bailey / changeovers 

(20:15) The Dockyard did not do shipbuilding from the very start, but it did shiprepair, and it was the Labour Government’s decision that the Dockyard should do shipbuilding. It was a difficult transition because the workers did not have that experience, but they started to learn and in fact some were sent to Spain to become naval architects and others were sent to ‘A.G. Weser’ in Germany to experience shipbuilding. 

Entering the dockyard-Swan Hunter / Bailey / changeovers 

(23:30) The dockyard was an industry that competed in the international market. The international market was difficult as it was not secure. However, the Labour Government did its best to assist the Dockyard to get work. 

(24:45) The Maltese Dockyard was going strong that it took massive projects in the world. He remembers when a ship with bottom damage was won through a competition from America. Ya Mawlaya was also won from a collision in Atlantic (it was an open competition). The Maltese Dockyard was seen several times on the front page of magazines. Two other major works were; the Lampas and the Lepeta from Shell. Passenger ship coming from ‘Cunard’. They did modifications on the Arctic which was a massive conversion. This shows the massive projects that the Dockyard did. 

(28:30) Meilaq was influenced by two welders, Giuseppi Psaila and Giuseppi Camilleri, which were both his mentors as they taught him a lot about trade unionism. According to Sammy Meliaq the Dockyard was a history in the making. 

(33:00) Frans Spiteri was the second chairman of the Council of Dockyard. He was one of the workers that was determined to increase shipbuilding with shiprepair. He mentions several workers, including Spiru Aquillina who was a salesman at the Dockyard and John Darmanin who worked at the safety section. 

(37:15) He did not have any family members working in the dockyard. He knew a lot of people working in the dockyard. Even though he came from a grammar school, he never liked the idea of working in an office. In fact, although he spent 22 years as part of the Dockyard council, he never lost contact with his manual work onboard ships. This helped him to keep abreast with what is happening on the shop floor.

(41:15) Meilaq recalls when he was injured in Libya-At that time Malta and Libya had good economic connections and once a year a meeting took place between two ministers; one Maltese and one Libyan. He was phoned by Minister John Dalli and asked him to join the meeting. He describes that Libya was significant for the Maltese. He mentions that the delegation was made of 16 members and that there was a boycott from the US side on the Libyan air space. Therefore no one could leave Libya or Tripoli with plane. He was placed in a car with the Minister's brother and his secretary, when a collision took place and they were all injured and he had a concussion and ended six weeks in hospital.