Oral history of the Malta Dockyard: Leli Camilleri

Entering the dockyard-Reasons for joining 

(00:40) He first used to work with a company where they used to do flanges and his position was as a machine operator, where he used to set up the machines in order to make flanges. He remembers that the Dockyard used to provide them scrap material which were then formed in their ‘foundry’ and then sent to the machine section for final machining. This company had some problems and had to close. The Government at that time took over, and allocated the redundant personnel to the Malta Shipbuilding yard and the Dockyard. This happened in 1979. They were employed as casuals; At that time, they were given used overalls and clothing. They refused this type of clothing, and he personally protested. After that they were given proper clothing. 

Safety-Health issues (noise, risks) 

(04:00) He remembers when there was the ship Carolina in Hamilton Wharf and he went with the rest of the workers on board. It was his first time to go down a tank. It was a deep tank, heavy fuel. It was his first time, so it was a shock for him. Camilleri was asking to put some wood planks (fallakki) as a temporary platform to step on, and they did so.

Also, they used to wash the ship tanks with chemicals. Camilleri states they during this process they did not have any masks or eye protectors. This was his first working experience on a ship. 

(06:45) He remembers that at No.1 dock there was a Libyan naval ship Tobruk. Camilleri remembers clearly that to get onboard one had to pass through an armed security soldier.

Camilleri describes that the chargemen were mostly illiterate as they did not know how to write and speak in English. However, his chargeman was different, as he used to show him everything related to the work on the ships, including, forepart (pruwa), aft part (poppa), what are the names of the tanks, fuel tanks, cargo, etc. So, he got interested in the work. He started helping his chargeman with writing reports, etc.

(09:30) During the 80s there were two ships called Serir and Marsa el Hariga, that required a lot of cleaning work and therefore they needed a lot of casuals. The main engines were full of carbon, and he remembers that they spent about one year and a half cleaning them. They had about 150 causal workers and they could work as much as they want. In fact, Camilleri states that they used to go early in the morning but did not have a clue at what time they would leave in the evening, also they worked on Saturdays and Sundays. 

(10:30) When Salvu made him a ‘primalista’, he used to put Camilleri in charge of 10 workers and to work on a particular tank.

(10:45) Once his chargeman had to leave, and during his absence, the ship manager wanted to remove some of the workers, and Camilleri told the manager that he cannot do it and before he had to ask the chargeman. However, the manager did not like his comments.

Safety-Health issues (noise, risks) 

(11:45) He remembers when once at the Ricasoli, there was an oil spillage, and they had to gather the spilled oil from the sea surface. They used to do this with a pump, however by the method they were pumping mostly water and not the spilled oil. So, he came up with the idea of putting two wood planks (fallakki) floating in the sea, making it thicker so that the pump was now pumping more oil than water. Unfortunately, this process caused him an infection which lasted for about three months. He then started to be more conscious of the health and safety precautions. 

(12:45) He mentions that he was not happy in the cleaning section. This is because the cleaning work included cleaning of sewage tanks, where he stated that the conditions were terrible.

Safety-Health issues (noise, risks) 

(13:30) He states that the conditions were very bad and they did not take any safety precautions. In fact, he recalls that he used to smoke and they used to go down in a tank and smoke there. He remembers, when once he was in a ‘Ballast tank’ and it had a lot or rust, and when they throw the cigarette away, the rust reacts and creates sulphur and with the cigarette it was made worse. 

(15:15) In 1983, a for vacancy for a chargeman was issued and he was given the role in the same year. Camilleri wanted to have a gang of 8 cleaners with him, which meant that each chargeman had to give him two of his workers, and one can imagine that they gave him the worst two cleaners that they had. He recalls that one chargeman told him that he will give him one that is he wants to get rid of and the other one which is good.

Family and Social Life-Friendships between workers 

(16:30) He worked hard to get his team on good terms with each other, and in fact, during Christmas time, he also used to organise going out together to dinner. Moreover, when they used to have a day off, he also used to organise an outing to Gozo. He states that he succeeded in having a good team. He did 10 years as a chargeman. 

(18:00) Emanuel Camilleri, mentioned when he worked on major projects. Example is when Grima was a foreman, and went down the dock under a ship, he looked up and bumped his head and ended up three months on sick leave.

Toni Gerada came up to him and told him that Johnny Debono wanted him as an assistant foreman. His job was to show the tanks to the new casual cleaners who were employed with the yard from time to time.  He remembers that when he used to take people down the tanks, he used to join them in order to show them the dangers of going into the tank, such as if there were missing ladder rungs (skaluni). 

(20:30) At that time they used to remove sludge from tanks using paint drums. Once they had a near accident so they changed this system using rubber drums. When they use to work during the night, the cleaners tended to take short cuts by still using paint drums. 

Once he was supervising work during a night shift and the cleaners were working with paint drums which were not safe, and he came up with the idea that if they use them, at least they have to put a safer handle on the drum.

 

(23:15) They were working in No.6 dock in summer, and with the heat the gas used to ferment (jifermenta), and there was Cikku l-Fulu, who after 10 mins became unconscious.

(25:00) They use to throw away the sludge at the dumping site (mizbla-Mghatab). Once somebody took a photo and posted on a newspaper of a dockyard truck entering the dumping site and disposing the sludge. Therefore, they had to stop and keep them in skips at a Dockyard. Then a process of sludge disposal was created. 

(27:00) When he became a foreman there was a P & O passenger ship that needed to clean all the sewage tanks. Camilleri mentions that the sewage tanks were in the accommodation and were very difficult to clean. The procedure to clean a sewage tank was, that first they had to pump the liquid, then they throw a disinfectant, and once a clean way is produced, a cleaner can enter and then the remaining material will need to be shovelled up.

He mentions that they had some problems during the cleaning, for example when the disease of AIDS came into being, this is because they use to find a lot of syringes, condoms, etc. Camilleri made it sure that his workers were fully equipped, wearing gloves and not touching anything with their hands. The final step was to clean it again as usually they were disinfected with ammonia.

He remembers that once he was on his duty and all of a sudden, he smelled a foul smell and he asked his manager to call the chemist. He came and went down with him to test the gas. He kept on searching and they found out that there was ammonia. The chemist told Camilleri that it was good that he realised as if within 20 minutes a person could become unconscious and die. 

Safety-Um El Faroud 

(33:00) In 1995 he remembers the accident on the Um El Faroud. He was at home and heard from the radio about the news, he left home and went to the Dockyard to see what was the situation. After the accident, they became more aware on the working conditions. It was a very difficult process to get the workers back to normal.

In 1998, they had to clean Um El Faroud. They had to clean all the tanks too. The cleaning was difficult as they had to clean all spaces.

(42:00) In 1999 or 2000 Camilleri became a manager. The first reaction from his workers was to stop doing overtime. They had no system of work; everybody was doing the way that suited him. Camilleri wanted to control this, and wanted to be fair with everybody. 

(44:30) He spoke with the union, that the department needed to be controlled by him and only he decides what’s good and not for the department. He also asked that on Saturday only the necessary ones will work, for the others there was no overtime. The following day, a shop steward, faced Camilleri and told him that it is unfair that all Dockyard is working except his department. But Camilleri responded by saying that only he decides what’s best. 

(47:00) He states that he worked on major works. When the process of the closing down of the yard had already started, he recalls the passenger ship Marco Polo which entered the yard to have its sewage tanks cleaned. However, it had a lot of solid waste and the job was practically impossible to do. He came up with the idea of vacuuming the tank with a bowser from inside the drydock, but it was still difficult. Camilleri was determined to do the job, so, he wore his suit and face masks and went down into the tank to start the work. The workers followed his example and they finally cleaned it. He has to say that he considered this as the worst cleaning job he has ever made. 

(51:00) In 2001 the workers knew that the Dockyard had its life limited up to about 2008. So, they had to either work hard to keep it going or it would be closed down. He remembers that they had safety lessons and learned that safety is parallel to production. 

(54:30) Another work was when they had a heavy fuel tank and they wanted to clean it all. Camilleri told them that in order to clean it all, the ship could not leave the Dock. 

(56:15) The workers were constantly working all the time to save the Dockyard. Then the authorities issued the retirement schemes. And whenever a scheme was offered, people were being reduced. Their aim was that in 2008 the dockyard would not close down but would remain in operation.

(57:30) When he was a manager, he had the cleaning department under his control and even the dockside cranes and mobile cranes. He states that they had a lot of work to do, especially the section of the cranes, etc. 

(58:45) When Mr Brian Galea became a divisional manager, he decided to take Camilleri under his management. He was given labourers with him, and took the labours from the other divisions. 

(1:02:00) He remembers when the ‘Fjord’ conversion started, the ship manager  John Balzan called him. Camilleri went to check the cleaning, but the repair duration was too short to be finished in the planned time.

Looking back-Memories of the Last Day 

(1:03:45) In the meantime people were being reduced from the Dockyard, and in August of 2008, they were already thinking about issuing the retirement schemes from the dockyard. It was the worst experience of the dockyard, to see how it was coming to its end. Camilleri was so worried about the closing of the dockyard that he was suffering from high blood pressure. Camilleri at the end was also driving rubbish trucks in the Dockyard. He said that the position at that time did not matter but everyone had to work hand in hand. Then in 31st March, 2010 the dockyard came to an end.