Oral history of the Malta Dockyard: Philip Mifsud

(00:30) He entered the shipyard as a patternmaker but he believed he could achieve more once he was at the dockyard and reach higher positions. The trade he chose was not the one he was too interested in. At school, the headmaster of the time led each student depending on their character and personality and to him personally, led him to enter the dockyard. 

(05:00) When they entered the dockyard, they had to attend dockyard school.

(05:30) Pattern making was treated with certain respect, but he was brought up, as preached by his father, that even if he was respected and had a good position, they should still continue to study, learn and grow to continue moving forward and aiming higher. 

(06:00) At the time, the patternmakers were stationed underground.

Entering the dockyard-Dockyard layout 

(07:00) He entered the dockyard in the period after war, where there were a lot of job opportunities. In fact, they trained patternmaking in the underground shelters at Kordin.

(08:30) Chargeman Bastjan from Rabat and his colleagues, Censu Camilleri, Frans & Eugenio Bonello (He was member of the MUSEUM society and worked close with San (Dun) Gorg)

Entering the dockyard-Trades (From approval to the departure of a vessel)  

(10:00) The patternmaker was involved in making patterns with the exact dimensions for engine and machinery parts. The patterns would then be used at foundry to make the moulds for the casting of the part. These patterns were stored for future use.  

(11:15) After working as a patternmaker, he became a clerk at the main office within the personnel department that was in charge of the workforce within the dockyard. Afterwards he became a section leader and then continued to become a manager. At the time he worked as a clerk, the top management were all British.

(14:15) During Bailey, the management was made up by Maltese, including him who made it a point to work hard and get a higher position.

(14:45) When the management was being transferred from the Admiralty to Bailey, the people working there stayed within their position, it was after Bailey introduced the change in management when certain changes started occurring. 

(18:00) He remembers how Swan Hunter wanted to do things different from Bailey, when they took over the management of the yard, because Bailey was limited to a certain closed market.

(19:15) He became a manager in 1962, first as a welfare officer-his job was to assist the worker to adapt to the changing circumstances of working under different management and the effects of these changes.

Then he took a position in the top management-where he did not just stay in his office but also was in contact and communicating with the workers on site. 

(22:30) Politics clashed with certain decisions within the dockyard especially within the top management positions. Although, Swan Hunter looked at the dockyard with a positive perspective and not through a political sense.

(25:30) When he worked as Personnel Manager, he was in charge of the training department. He had to communicate with 5 different departments: the surgery, the training of apprentices and the security. The way he led the teams was not authoritative but by communication with the representatives who would bring their concerns. His aim was to discuss with the management and together discuss in order to come to an understanding.

(27:15) He introduced the system where, if a worker is required to work during the night shift, they would not come in for work for the whole shift, but only for the required hours. On the other hand, they would not come in for say just one hour but they would work a minimum number of hours. When it came to accepting the new procedure, there was some people who did not agree, as with every proposition, but he tried his best to make everyone understand his proposal instead of taking an aggressive stand. 

(31:30) For him it was not as difficult to manage the dockyard, it was only made difficult when politics were involved, especially when someone from the management was also involved with the union. For example, Sammy Meilaq who had to speak in favour of the dockyard but also speak in favour of the union, even if there were some clashes, he took both sides to conciliate the situation. Unlike his family’s involvement in politics, he never showed as much interest which might have made it difficult for him in certain discussion with people involved in politics, such as Sammy Meilaq. 

Looking back-Reflections 

(34:15) It has been around 30 years since he retired from the dockyard, but he did not follow so much the events that happened during the last years, even if sometimes he wishes to go see where he and his colleagues used to work, however he looks at the yard as an important part of the country’s administration. He is proud to say that he worked in the dockyard especially for the fact that he entered the dockyard as an apprentice and retired from the dockyard working in a top management position.