Oral history of the Malta Dockyard: Joe Gouder

Education-Interesting training and skills 

(00:30) After five years at the De La Salle school, Gouder decided to join the dockyard in 1956. He sat for the exam and obtained very good marks and this made gave him the chance to enter as an electrical fitter. In the first year They learned the basics on how to use hand tools. During the second year, the electrician apprentices start learning basic electrical work, such as armature winding by hand, etc. They were even sent to get practical training on the basic machines used by the mechanical section of engineering. Then during 3rd year, they are allocated onboard to learn the trade of ship-wiring, general overhaul of motors, pumps, etc. He spent 2 years working on submarines, which were in No.1 dock. Some which he remembers are HMS Sea Devil, Trenchant, Tally-Ho, Tapir, etc. These usually stayed around 9 months in the dock. As apprentices they used to assist the electricians to change all the cables on a submarine from lead to PVC, which at that time was a new material.

(05:15) Up to 1959, when the shipyard was still under the British Admiralty, he worked on royal navy vessels. When he was an apprentice, he still had a wage of about of £2/5s.

In 1959, the dockyard was transferred to Baileys. Under Bailey the dockyard became commercial, and they began working on tankers. The Sirius was the first tanker to come in the shipyard. He also mentions the poor conditions that they had as workers, including the extreme discipline.

Entering the dockyard-Swan Hunter / Bailey / changeovers 

(09:45) Gouder mentions that when they were split between the Admiralty and Bailey, the Admiralty kept the senior (established) workers. Since he was an apprentice at that time, he was transferred with Bailey. However, after some time, Bailey also faced problems and the yard was handed over to Swan Hunter, which was a British company, but Joseph states that it did not bring as much work as Bailey did. 

Trade Union-Reasons for trade unions 

(10:30) He claims that very few strikes took place, however, it was time that the General Workers Union began to demand for more rights for the workers, as they were seeing that there were a lot of injustices happening.

Safety-Accidents 

(12:45) Gouder mentions that he remembers a lot of accident taking place at the dockyard, especially the Um El Faroud accident. Following that accident, safety was given more importance, and in fact, they began testing tanks for gases such as carbon dioxide and monoxide, gasses, CO2, etc. He states that they had a surgery inside the shipyard and a doctor on site, because minor accidents were common. 

(14:30) On the Royal Navy ships, each electrical cable that was made of lead had to be renewed, which was quite expensive. When he was an apprentice, he tried to learn and see what others were doing. He explains how he was given a transfer from an electrical fitter to work on electronic equipment. He was not afraid to climb up on the ships’ masts, so he spent many years working on the removal and renewal of radars. It was usually three stories high on the deck. 

(16:30) From 1971 he states that the conditions were improved, in fact, he mentions that the pension was increased. Back to Bailey, they introduced the shift, and since he was an electrician, he was chosen to go to various Maltese factories, such as the Malta Rubber factory, so he was not involved in the shift system.

(18:30) He even fitted lightning conductors found in churches. It was a magnet made of copper and goes down around the perimeter and about 3 meters underground. Then it has a meter copper rod, and in the edge, it had a little touch of gold. 

(20:45) In the 1970s, during the labour government, the dockyard was managed by a worker’s council. But when Alfred Sant was prime minister, he disagreed with this system, and changed the Dockyard Law. The work in the dockyard was not constant and there were times when the workers did not have work and charged 99 (code to charge a worker when he had no work to do), so this meant that the workers still get paid, even though there was no work for them.  During the last years there were some ships that left a lot of losses. Eventually, the dockyard was handed to Palumbo. There were some political intrusions which was harmful to the yard. He mentions the event when during the “Imnarja” (St Peter and St Paul feast), which was not a public Holiday, the opposition gave orders to the workers not to go work. This had bad repercussions on the day after. He also remembers during the end 1960s there was a 6-month strike.

Unfortunately, he sees that when both political parties got involved in the dockyard, things were not so good.

(26:15) Joseph mentions that there was time where a lot of casual workers were being employed with the dockyard. He states that they were not skilled and had to learn everything from the start. 

Education-Dockyard school 

(28:15) The Dockyard Technical College was situated at Senglea, and during the Admiralty time there was a scheme known as ‘equal opportunity scheme’. This mean that the Maltese apprentice will have the same opportunity as the British worker, only if they succeed the four years school period. They had a commander as a principal, and they used to attend every Monday and Wednesday from 9am to 12am. Then they sit for their finals.

Entering the dockyard-Dockyard layout 

(33:30) For the dockyard school, they used to enter from the South Gate, then they used to go through a tunnel, but it had another door on the Senglea side.

At the Secondary school, he states that the Italian language was compulsory. It was a private school and they had to pay for their studies.

(41:45) The first factory he remembers working with, was one of poultry products of Calascione. He was sometimes sent to ships anchored at Hurds Bank outside Malta. 

Family and Social Life-Religion 

(45:30) As a carpenter trade, the carpenters were always sensitive and calm. They used to do a niche practically in every workshop. For example, in the factory, many were devoted Catholics, and on particular days, during the break-time, they used to celebrate mass. In the shops one could find posters of religious quotes, as well as political quotations, especially socialist ones.