Introducing mandatory union membership would take Malta a step closer to becoming like North Korea, former director-general of the Malta Employers' Association Joseph Farrugia told The Malta Independent on Sunday.
Farrugia was asked for a reaction after the parliamentary secretary for Social Dialogue, Andy Ellul said a few days ago that the government's intention to implement a form of mandatory union membership is set to be achieved well before the end of the current legislature. The intention to introduce such a measure was included as part of the Labour Party's manifesto for the last general election.
But employer bodies have expressed themselves against the concept, saying that it infringes on the workers' right not to associate themselves with a trade union.
Ellul had said that the matter has been discussed with social partners and that there are currently four potential models which could be implemented. He also remarked that the matter may be discussed further through public consultation or some other means.
The four models deal with potential variations of mandatory membership which could apply to either every employee, only for low-wage earners, third-country nationals or only certain industries.
The parliamentary secretary had said that organisations such as the General Workers' Union, UHM Voice of the Workers and Moviment Graffiti, among others, have expressed support for the measure.
The GWU has been calling for automatic trade union membership since 2017, with its secretary general Josef Bugeja saying this measure will stop unfair working conditions and exploitation. It will also tackle situations of workplace injustices.
Conversely, organisations such as the Malta Employers' Association (MEA), the Malta Chamber of Commerce, the Malta Chamber of SMEs and the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association have reiterated that they are unwavering in their position that membership or non-membership with a trade union should be the choice of the individual employee.
In a statement after Ellul's declaration, the employer bodies said that nobody should force membership or non-membership.
"This fundamental principle, protected by the Constitution of Malta and international conventions such as the United Nations Charter for Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights, ensures that no employee should ever be forced into union membership or prevented from joining a union," the organisations said.
According to the most recent statistics available from the International Labour Organisation, Malta's trade union density in 2020 was 41.9%. Comparing this to some other European countries, Italy's trade union density in 2019 was 32.5%, Germany's was 16.3%, Spain's was 12.4%, while France's and Poland's was 8.9% and 12.7% respectively in 2018. While those are some of the EU countries that have lower membership than Malta according to the ILO's statistics, there are others, notably the Nordic countries, with higher union density. Denmark's was 67% in 2019, Sweden's was 65.2% and Finland's was 58.8%.
In comments to The Malta Independent on Sunday, former MEA director-general Farrugia said that he does not agree with the introduction of mandatory union membership, adding that "it makes no sense". He continued that employees should have the right to decide whether or not to join a union without the involvement of anyone else, whether that be an employer, the unions themselves or the government. He added that while unions may attempt to incentivise or encourage you to join, the final decision should ultimately rest with the employee.
"Malta has no anti-union practices. We have one of the highest union densities in the world," Farrugia remarked, adding that if there are any cases of anti-union behaviour from an employer, then those should be tackled specifically rather than going for a measure that encompasses everyone. "We have work laws, structures and protections in place," he commented.
On the matter of the other proposals, which would tackle mandatory membership for specific people such as low-income workers or certain sectors rather than requiring all workers to be part of a union, Farrugia said that he disagrees with this and that the principle remains the same.
"It's a question of principle; you cannot force people to join a union, the same as you cannot force anyone to join an employers' association." He remarked that it would benefit employer associations if that was the case, but it still makes no sense. He added that there are conventions against such an act in Europe, the International Labour Organisation, and Malta's own Constitution.
The former director-general of the MEA mentioned that the issue of mandatory union membership had previously been discussed with the employment relations board. However, recent discussions have been avoided "because the government is decisive that it wants to do it, but does not know how it will".
He remarked that if the government wanted to consult about the idea, then it should have done so before the Labour Party put it in the electoral manifesto, as at that point it had already committed itself, and discussions after the fact would have just been to see how it would be done. "That's not consultation," he commented.
Concerning how the change would actually be felt if mandatory union membership were to become a reality, Farrugia said that it depends on how it would be implemented as there are many ideas being mentioned. "They don't even know what they're doing," he remarked.
He said that nowadays there is already good coverage of collective agreements and that there are companies where employees choose not to associate themselves with unions. He continued that Malta has had "very good industrial relations" for a long time and so "there is no need for a situation to be established which antagonises employers and unions with measures like this".
Farrugia said that he agrees with unions incentivising workers to join via capacity building, and added that he thinks there is nothing wrong with workers being unionised as long as it is their choice. He continued that social partners, "both unions and employer organisations should have the backing and capacity building to be able to carry out their missions properly".
Continuing on that, he said that he believes it is the best road for the government to assist in capacity building so that there is stronger social dialogue.
The Malta Independent on Sunday also spoke with Gejtu Vella, the former secretary-general of UHM Voice of the Workers, who is now an industrial relations consultant.
Vella also said that he disagrees with mandatory union membership, believing that it "belittles trade unionism". He continued that he is of the opinion that trade unions should work to increase their membership by educating the workforce and campaigning. He described mandatory membership as being "anti-constitutional".
"In my understanding, the government should not get involved and require people to join up with a union. The government should have no involvement in this. The unions should try to convince people to join through their own efforts, and at no stage should the government make trade unionism and membership mandatory. It's against the law."
The former UHM secretary-general expressed his disagreement with any form of mandatory union membership, including proposals to make it compulsory only for low-income workers or specific sectors.
He remarked that trade unionism is freedom of expression and that such a proposal belittles it. He continued that workers join up where or if they want, but that making it mandatory under any excuse is something he completely disagrees with.
Vella emphasised that trade unions, collective bargaining and industrial pressure are very important in a democratic society. "They should promote this and promote the idea of how collective bargaining and trade agreements benefit the workers... This is a very good selling point for trade unions to convince workers to join up," he said, reiterating that introducing mandatory membership is something he is against and that unions should work to increase their membership without government involvement.