Oral history of the Malta Dockyard: Joseph Sapiano

(00:30) Joe attended the Sliema Primary School, where they had classes teaching boys the necessary subjects to be able to work in the dockyard. His father worked at the Admiralty Dockyard. The eligible age to enter the dockyard was 14 to 16 years.

(02:30) 1958 was the last year under the Admiralty when apprentices were recruited. 2,200 students applied for 150 posts. He ranked the 174th but he was still able to enter the yard, due to some failing in the interview or the medical test.  Some had other opportunities. 

He entered as a welder, which at the time were limited to 4 in number. This was because at that time, rivets were predominantly use for joining steel fabrications and welding had limited use. 

(03:45) In March 1959, there was a transition from the Admiralty to Bailey. The 12,000 workers working with the Admiralty were split where 6,000 remained with the Admiralty and the other 6,000 were transferred with Bailey. 

(04:45) At that time the naval vessels had a lot of asbestos material, which at that time no one was aware the hazardous effect of this material. Some doctors say most of its effects show on the person, about 30 years later in one’s life.

(06:30) Welding and other trades were needed in the dockyard, as it was expanding. This period highlights the start of Mr. Sapiano’s 16 years in the trade union. Welding was not recognised as a trade, even then the government authorities did. In 1974 welding became considered as a trade, even though there was some opposition from the other trades. 

(08:45) 1976 – he entered the union council and after some years (1985) he became the president of the dockyard section within the trade union. Apart from working within his trade, he also had the time to work within the union, where one of the things he had to do was to meet management to discuss working conditions. 

Being in the trade union was an opportunity he wanted and he could have even done it full time instead of working with the trade but doing both was what he wanted to do, especially since, working with people made him see certain difficulties they went through. 

(10:45) With disappointment he mentioned that the dockyard was always destined to be closed down, more so when the government took it under its wing. Instead of trying to work on it and improve it, they decided to close it down. 

(11:30) As with everything, the workers had their bad sides as well, but there was real serious intention to improve the workplace, instead the union was being blamed for making the work more difficult to perform. 

(12:30) VistaFjord, a tourist ship, had a lot of work that needed to be done and the dockyard managed to win the contract, which raised a lot of discussion in the English Parliament as to how a Maltese company managed to take such a huge contract. The work that the vessel needed was new for the dockyard with a month’s work where a number of cabins had to be restructured using aluminium, which was a new material used within the dockyard.  They ended up doing a great job on it and even finished earlier than the time frame given. He brings the above-mentioned example, to highlight that the management of the work was done by the company in charge of the vessel, who then worked with the middle management to complete the work ahead of the agreed time.

(16:15) He remembers that they spent one and a half years of discussions between management, union and government representatives, meeting once a week at the Ministry of Social Services with Mr. Gonzi, who chaired this working group. These meeting concentrated how the dockyard could improve for the future. At the end the working group was not successful, and after some months, in 2003, there was a reduction of 900 workers.

(18:30) At that time he was no longer involved in Union matters, as he had left two years earlier. He left because since he was due to retirement, he felt that he should leave, while also assisting any persons taking over his place. 

(19:30) He claims that the service given by the dockyard workers was recognized from 1959 onwards, so the number of years the worker spent working with the Admiralty were not counted. Joe had actually another year of service to do but in 2003, he was given a choice of either go to work with a Government Company (IPSL) or take early retirement. He recalls the disappointment when he left on a Friday without any clue that on Saturday, he was advised by letter not to report for work on Monday. On the other hand, he admitted that they were not discharged, but were given a choice.

(21:45) Joe claims that with the closure of the dockyard, a lot of trades were lost. There was no place where one could learn a trade at such high level other than at the dockyard, and nowadays, with its closure there is nowhere left with such technical education system.   

(23:30) He mentions that there was a difference between an instructor who learned through the dockyard and an instructor who learned through the books. He remembers when he visited Umberto Colosso’s Welding Department with the minister and noticed a student working under the desk to teach them working in confined spaces. Showing how important it was for a dockyard worker to teach through what they have learned and experienced, which is now, unfortunately, getting lost. 

(28:00) The time of Admiralty and even sometime afterwards, the dockyard was able to do everything, it was practically self-sustained. 

(28:30) His opinion was that as the dockyard was destined to close down and the contract for the work on the Fairmount with a loss of around 80 million USD, was a good excuse to close it down. 

(30:15) He also recalls the good relationship most of them had, where they shared the experiences both bad and good. Talking about their hobbies and everyday things as a family.

(33:30) The Union during the time of Bailey was very strong as there was a lot of solidarity between the workers. Things have changed now; the younger generation now are much better off.

The Union was strong; however, it was not true what some opinions say, that they did what they wanted. 

(36:30) The relationship between the Union and the Council, was generally good, but there were instances when they had disagreements. Strikes in the Dockyard were very limited, and they always followed all the steps required before taking action.

(38:00) When the Um El Faroud accident happened, he was not at work. When he arrived on the accident site it was a really shocking scene. It affected not on the shipyard, the workers and their families, but also everybody in Malta.

(43:15) For individual situations, the Union was a sort of go between management and the union. His basis was that when a worker came with a problem with management, he always assessed the situation and before he confronted management, he had to be sure that the worker was in the right in his disagreement. His experience taught him that going to management with a claim that he cannot win, only weakens his position as union representative.

(46:45) There were situations of disagreements between the workers themselves. In this situation he had the role of judging who was right or wrong.