Dock workers have once more been given the right to hand down dock licenses to their heirs after the practice had been abolished in 1992. The arrangements for this right to be given back to dock workers were made only weeks before the last general election and temporarily sealed through a Legal Notice issued on 5 May 2017.

Up until the year 1992, dock workers used to be given the right to hand their dock working license to their heirs. This would allow for the heirs to become licensed dock workers automatically.

Talks held with the European Commission in 2002, led to an agreement which stated that those who already inherited this right could keep it, but the ‘inheritance process’ would stop.  This agreement was further insisted upon in a Reform Agreement which was signed by the Malta Dockers Union and the Government back in 2007.

The agreement clearly stated that, just as it was agreed upon with the EU Commission, once these licenses are exhausted, new workers will only be given a working licence from Transport Malta after a public call is formally issued.

On 5 May 2017, a month before the general election which saw the Labour Party emerging once again victorious, a legal notice was issued which threw the process back some 25 years.

The Legal Notice titled ‘Port Workers Ordnance’ clearly states that previous arrangement that stopped the automatic transfer of the licences to heirs does not apply to workers who died due to an accident at work, those workers who had been licensed by October 1992 and those who were licensed in the period between 2004 and 2017.

Sources who spoke with The Malta Independent said that the former Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Joe Mizzi, together with Robert Abela, who is the lawyer representing the Dockers Union, and Transport Malta CEO James Piscopo held an information meeting with the licenced dock workers. The meeting was held at a hotel in St Julian’s.  

The sources said that this decision has caused frustration among some 100 auxiliary workers who are waiting for a call for applications so that they can be given the chance to apply for the dock workers licence.

These workers are currently stationed as drivers at the Malta Freeport so that they eventually substitute dock workers when the demand is high. Some of these workers have been waiting for an opportunity to apply for this licence for more than ten years. They were hoping that they would be the next in line to fill in the supply of workers as they would have gained enough experience to carry out a good job. Now, however, with the ‘licence inheritance’ practice back in place, their chance of making it to the dock has grown thinner.