Away from the hustle and bustle of our daily activities, this year started with various developments in conditions of work aimed to improve the quality of life of various categories of workers, without endangering the competitive edge of our industries.

The extension of the present 14 weeks maternity leave with full pay, paid by the employer, with two weeks this year and another two weeks next year paid by the government at €160 weekly, is a measure that should encourage more female participation in the labour market.

Likewise, the recently published legal notice regarding the Employment Status will curb abuse. This legal notice will bring to an end the much-disputed issue of self-employment contracts. Additionally, the regulations that came into force earlier, which guarantee the rights of workers employed with temping agencies, will open new opportunities both for workers and employers.

While workers can make use of a wide range of family-friendly measures, business will not be interrupted by substituting their workers with other workers employed with temping agencies for a defined period of time.

These improved conditions of work came about against the backdrop of the latest press release issued by the National Statistics Office, which shows that Malta is now at the highest peak ever, with 149,859 workers in full-time employment. While this figure is very encouraging, more important is the ratio of workers employed in the national economy. The figures show that 73 per cent of the workers are engaged in the private sector while 27 per cent are public sector employees. These figures are important indicators of the state of our economy.

Back to the introduction of the new conditions of work – mainly the increase in maternity leave entitlement and the regulations guaranteeing rights to workers employed by temping agencies, the new conditions of work were most welcome by the trade union movement. Equally important was the adoption of the new legal notice regulating the relationship of a self-employed worker providing a service to an employer on full-time or part-time basis with standard working hours and working patterns that are set by the employer. This has been a bone of contention for many months for the trade union movement.

There are various contracts of employment in the labour market – indefinite contracts, fixed-term contracts, flexi-time contracts, part-time contracts; casual work contracts and annual hours’ contracts are all contracts of employment in force in various places of work. In addition to these contracts, self-employment is also work relationship that does not in anyway breach our labour laws. It becomes abusive and irregular when it is used by an employer to bypass other contracts of work available with the clear intention of avoiding the cost of national insurance contributions and deprive workers on self-employment contracts basic conditions of work, such as sick and vacation leave entitlement and other conditions of work enjoyed by other workers performing the same duties at the same place of work employed on other forms of contracts.

It is nonetheless heartening to note that the absolute majority of small and large employers did not opt for this type of contract.

With the introduction of Legal Notice 44 of 2012, the relationship between people providing a service and a service user is now better regulated. While self-employment relationship between an employer and an employee may still be used, this regulation will only limit abuse.

As in the case of the other forms of employment contracts, this new regulation has now set out clear criteria to regulate the relationship between an employer and an employee in a self-employment relationship.

If five conditions out of the set criteria below are satisfied, the Legal Notice provides the necessary machinery for a worker to have his contract of work changed. I think this is fair enough.

Depends on one single person for whom the service is provided for at least 75 per cent of his income over a period of one year.

Depends on the person for whom the service is provided to determine what work is to be done and where and how the assigned work is to be carried out.

Performs the work using equipment, tools or materials provided by the person for whom the service is provided.

Is subject to a working time schedule or minimum work periods established by the person for whom the service is provided.

Cannot sub-contract his work to other individuals to replace him when carrying out work.

Is integrated in the structure of the production process, the work organisation or the company’s or other organisation’s hierarchy;

The person’s activity is a core element in the organisation and pursuit of the objectives of the person for whom the service is provided, and

carries out similar tasks for existing employees, or, in the case when work is outsourced, he performs tasks similar to those formerly undertaken by employees.

This new legal notice will give workers better protection while allowing employers to engage workers on self-employment when it is necessary to engage them with this type of work relationship.

Striking the balance between workers’ rights and employers’ obligations to their employees is a very fine line. It has however to be acknowledged that the vast majority of entrepreneurs and employers, both of large or small firms and businesses, recognise the value added workers contribute to their economic activity and refrain from taking advantage of their workers and this new piece of legislation will not in any way hamper their business activity.

The different contracts of work in our labour laws are designed to give the necessary flexibility to entrepreneurs to ensure that there are no rigidities in the labour market that may hamper productivity and national competitiveness. The use of the appropriate contract of work remains subject to the employer’s standards and ethics in conducting business.

Another achievement for workers’ conditions of work is Legal Notice 461 of 2010, which provides the regulatory framework and parameters of employment for workers employed with temping agencies.

Through this legal notice, temp workers now enjoy the same basic working conditions as though the company using their services has recruited them. Temping agencies will provide companies with the necessary human resources to substitute employees who fall sick for a long period, or have family matters to attend to like maternity, paternity leave and other family issues. Workers employed by temp agencies will enjoy the same conditions of work of the same organisation to which they are rendering a service.

These improvements in conditions of work should be seen and applied objectively in a process leading to a more flexible labour market, which is necessary from the entrepreneurs’ point of view, while safeguarding the workers’ best interests. A flexible labour market will encourage more entrepreneurs to introduce more family-friendly measures at enterprise level which are becoming more valued by many workers. Moreover, the introduction of these conditions of work will further attract more workers to the labour market. It is a win-win situation. However, the largest possible number of workers and entrepreneurs must know about these regulations while the application and the advantages of these regulations should be shouted from the rooftops. Can someone take charge and lead please?

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