The General Workers’ Union has welcomed the positive reception of current law-making efforts to introduce automatic unionisation, a measure that will mainly benefit low-income workers.

“The GWU notes with satisfaction that apart from the support of all trade unions, the NGOs Graffitti and tenants’ union Solidarjetà support the proposal as well. All recognise the need to give a voice to many workers in Malta who are forced not to join a union, especially vulnerable workers employed in low-income jobs,” said GWU Secretary General Josef Bugeja.

“Automatic unionisation provides guaranteed protection, especially for workers in low-income jobs who may be afraid, harassed or discouraged from joining a trade union,” Bugeja continued.

He said Maltese law provided for an active overseer of trade union activities and recognitions process, – the Department of Industrial and Employment Relations – that promotes bona fide unions and strong collective bargaining. Apart from industrial relations issues, trade unions through their participation in the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development propose policies that promote inclusivity, social mobility and economic growth.

“While stakeholders differ on whether all or parts of the national workforce should benefit from automatic unionisation, critics from the employers’ association are not suggesting any solutions as to the problem of employees who are not allowed by their employers to join – this is un-constitutional,” Bugeja said.

A survey published by the Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society in 2015 revealed that  2.5% of male workers and 2.5% of female workers had been either discouraged or received hostile reactions from their employers in their attempts at joining a union.

“Employers claim all workers are free to join a union – but do they mean what they say if these workers are prevented or discouraged from claiming their rights? Only last week we received a complaint from one of our members who informed us that his employer told him that he was earmarked for a promotion, but he had to resign from the trade union. They included a clause in his contract that stated that being a trade union member was a conflict of interest to his position. Employers’ associations know about these cases, and they never propose any concrete solutions. They just said that the employee should report his employer. That is a ridiculous solution considering that these employees are worried or scared that their employment will be terminated.  

“While non-unionised workers are free to challenge such practices in a court of law, these affected workers often lack the agency or resources to take on expensive legal action. A just society must discourage unfair employment practices, which is why unions come into play as the necessary counter-measure,” Bugeja said.

The GWU believes that unionisation provides the simplest way of discouraging profiteering employers from attempting to use arbitrary working arrangements that put workers at a disadvantage. As it had encountered too many stories of workers who lacked autonomy and agency and were at the mercy of the arbitrary business decisions of their employers.

“Unions are a basic institution of a just society, much as employers view businesses as the primary institution of a free market. Just as every community needs a government, employees need a union which gives vulnerable workers a guarantee of justice when dealing with employers,” he said.

“In the case of platform workers, especially, these employees have been subject to all kinds of arbitrary treatment, and without automatic unionisation, vulnerable workers and third-country nationals lack any form of protection against this. Automatic unionisation is a necessary countermeasure to a system that allows employers to extract maximum profit on human resources, at their expense.”