Oral history of the Malta Dockyard: George Zahra

(00:30) George entered the yard in 1950 after attending the De la Salle College. The apprenticeship was for 6 years and was a very good technical education system, where the apprentice learned a trade and those students who excelled even had the opportunity to learn theory in the UK up to Naval Architect. He was one of the 120 apprentices who entered the yard that year. The choice of trade depended on the order of merit. He took the trade of a shipwright.

(02:30) At that time the ships in the yard were all British Naval ships that were still using a rivetted construction on most of the structure. His first pay after completing his apprenticeship, was 3 English Pounds. Cost of living at that time was low, apart from the fact the living requirements were very basic. There was a lot of emigration from Malta at that time.

(04:45) George reiterated that when he entered the yard in 1950, there were more than 11,000 workers. As an example, the No. 1 dock area was dedicated to work on submarines and employed about 1,500. When a Cruiser entered the yard, this used to employ about 800 workers. In the 50s, the British wanted to reduce the workers from the shipyard. The decision to that was the British engaged a British yard Bailey to manage and make the change-over from Naval to Commercial ship repairing. However, due to certain practices, this company was terminated and another contractor Swan Hunter took over, where progress and development of the facilities improved.

(10:00) Swan Hunter wanted to introduce a shift system to reduce overtime and distribute the workers. The Union at first accepted the proposal, however after one year they started opposing the system, and eventually the shift was accepted with better conditions.

(11:30) When the Labour took over the Government in 1971, Swan Hunter left and the Government started making all efforts to get more work and diversify to Shipbuilding, including development of an additional shipyard dedicated only to shipbuilding. There was work coming from different sources through the Government. However, it was impossible for the dockyard to work without any subsidies.

(13:45) In 1976, George formed part of the dockyard council, where he realised the difficulties that there were to manage the shipyard and attract work. Sometimes work was accepted even at a cost to cover the labour expenses.

(15:45) There was no doubt that the shipyard had too many workers. He remembers that an American company Bethlehem Steel, had reported even before Bailey took over the dockyard, that the maximum number of workers for the facilities should not be more than 1,500 workers.

(16:30) He said that he visited various shipyards outside Malta and he saw that work systems, especially in Germany, were different in a heavy Industry work, where workers were well paid as they were specialised tradesmen, however they had to do all types of work. This reduced the requirement of other workers that were doing work that could be done by the specialised tradesman. However, the situation in Malta could not permit to increase unemployment and no Government or Council could take the responsibility of reducing the dockyard workforce.

(21:00) When the British constructed the docks, these were made to take the round shape of the hull with the dock having stepped sides. Eventually the docks changed shape as can be seen in the construction of the No. 6 Dock. The older docks were converted to take the more modern box shaped ships. George also mentions the Cunard Countess that was refurbished after the Falkland war. He recalls that whereas there were no problems with the engineering work, the yard had to contact local contractors to do the carpeting work. Eventually the repairs on passenger ships flourished. However, we had to adapt to a system where the Owners brought their own contractors to do that work that could not be done by the dockyard workers.

(31:45) George also refers to work on the steel bridges for new roads that during the last years were constructed in Spain, whereas these could have been done in the dockyard. In this respect he also mentions the breakwater bridge. Something that he cannot understand.

(37:30) He mentions the Grit Blasting work. He describes the process in general. This type of work started in the dockyard through a German Company. The process was very much requested for removal of rust from the steel and as preparation for painting. He mentions the effect on the surrounding environment and also on new systems of blasting using water.

(44:15) He retired from the dockyard in 1996, when workers were being offered early retirement schemes. Although this reduced the number of workers, however it was still not enough and eventually ended up being taken over by a private firm.

(46:30) He mentions the dangerous environment of tank work.  The shipyard had chemists to check tanks for safe entry and working. When he thinks about, at that time the workers did not realize the dangerous environment or maybe they were accustomed to it. He remembers the Um El Faroud accident.

(52:30) He mentions also that a lot of the workers were constantly exposed to fumes from gases created by welding and other work processes. He particularly remembers the Agip Genoa, when one of the workers died because of the fumes inside the tank. Another hazardous material he mentioned is asbestos, that was a silent killer that affected a lot of workers.