It has been a very long wait. It was only in the Government Gazette dated 24 April 2007 that the Ministry for Education, Youth and Employment – responsible for Labour – published the annual report of the Registrar of Trade Unions as mandated by law. The report covers trade union and employer association data as at June 2006. Never has this annual report been published so late.
In what may come as a surprise to many, the data presents an encouraging bill of health for our trade union organisations. After the first, though marginal, registered decline in total membership figures in 2002, many observers (myself included) had predicted that the year represented a watershed in trade union influence, and that the future could only have more declines in store. But, apparently, we were wrong: the membership of trade unions in Malta appears to be back on a moderate but nevertheless positive trend. Considering the recent, fairly dramatic changes taking place in our economy – including privatisation programme, redeployment of public employees and the contraction of manufacturing, these figures are, well, almost too good to be true. In the period 2003–2006, according to Minister Louis Galea in Parliament (14 November 2006), Malta Shipyards shed 930 jobs; Air Malta shed 400 jobs; Enemalta shed 250 jobs; the Water Services Corporation shed 100 jobs while 2,500 collective redundancies were announced in the private sector during 2006 alone.
A matter of verification
Allegations of bloated trade union membership figures are still fresh. Manwel Micallef, former Deputy General Secretary of the General Workers’ Union (GWU), contended – in an article published in the local press in December 2005 – that the membership figures being given by the GWU to the Registrar of Trade Unions were grossly inflated. The GWU has responded by arguing that its figures are correct and authentic. Was this just a cheap attempt to slander the GWU after Micallef had lost the election for its Secretary General just two months before?
In any case, the onus of such a verification at law falls on Dr Noel Vella, the Registrar of Trade Unions, who leads the Department of Industrial & Employment Relations: he bears the double task of facilitating harmonious industrial relations (where building positive relations with the social partners is key), as well as inspecting and endorsing the veracity of trade union statistics. These tasks are not easily compatible, and excessive familiarity may breed contempt and dent authority. In line with other supervisory or regulatory functions in Malta, the task of trade union membership inspection might be better served were it hived off to the National Employment Authority.
Rosy picture for ‘big five’
The data, for all it’s worth, sees the GWU return to an increase in membership after three consecutive years of losses. The Union Haddiema Maghqudin (UHM) has (again) registered a slight increase. The Malta Union of Teachers (MUT) has notched a whopping 17 per cent increase in membership in just three years. The Malta Union of Bank Employees (MUBE) is another union on a slow rise, although we lack its latest membership figures. Impressive is the continued growth of the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses (MUMN) – the only large union apart from the GWU which is not part of the Confederation of Malta Trade Unions (CMTU): a 25 per cent increase in membership over the last three years.
What the data also suggests is that while the “big five” have registered these increases, the other, smaller unions are struggling. The number of members affiliated to small, mainly house or company based unions, often addressing strictly professional interests, is now the smallest ever in local recorded history: as low as in 1984. The Registrar, in fact, reports that no less than five such unions were cancelled from the register during the latest year under review. (One of these, the Drydocks Senior and Executive Staff Union, had nothing short of a tumultuous history, especially during the 22 years of self-management at Malta Drydocks.) Presumably, in such workplaces as HSBC, the Water Services Corporation and Marsa Shipyards, the unionisation of top officers within their own trade union body has been taken over by effective human resource management. Meanwhile, another 12 unions (apart from MUBE) had not reported membership levels to the Registrar for the previous year: a telltale indicator that more unions may be struck off the register in next year’s report.
For an independent audit
Otherwise, for any additional credibility to be bestowed (or restored) to these figures, there is perhaps no other, or better, way than the trade unions agreeing to a full and independent audit. Of course, they have absolutely no obligation at law to open and disclose their books to anyone but the Registrar. But any of the larger trade unions can easily take the initiative and propose an appraisal of membership data by a suitable and trusted “third party”. A credible appreciation of trade union membership levels can only enhance the image of trade unions in contemporary Maltese society – with the public at large, government and employers. Such an act could prove to be a spectacular public relations coup.
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Godfrey Baldacchino is Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of the Centre for Labour Studies at the University of Malta. (Currently on leave of absence as Canada Research Chair in Island Studies at the University of Prince Edward Island, Canada.) The views expressed in this article are strictly his own, although they may be shared by others.