Malta
Key Facts
| Population | 413,000 |
|---|---|
| Collective Bargaining Coverage | 51% |
| Proportion of Employees in Unions | 48% |
| Principal Level of Collective Bargaining |
company |
| Workplace Representation |
union |
| Board-level Representation |
no |
| Company Board Structure |
monistic |
Trade Union
Union density is relatively high in Malta, with 48% of employees belonging to unions. Two main union groupings, the GWU and UHM, face one another, both organising a wide spectrum of workers, although some occupations, such as teachers, bank employees and midwives, are in independent unions. There are political differences between the two main groups and relations are often tense.
more ...Collective Bargaining
The key level for collective bargaining is the company level. There is also protection for those not covered by collective bargaining through a series of wage orders for specific industries that set minimum terms, and a system of partial pay indexation through “cost-of-living” adjustments”.
more ...Workplace Representation
In Malta it is the union – provided it is recognised (that is the employer is willing to negotiate with it) – that normally represents the employee at workplace level. But EU directives have led to new arrangements for non-unionised employees. But it does not seem that these have been taken up to any extent. In addition, they still give clear primacy to the union, as they disappear if a union is established.
more ...Board-level Representation
Employee representatives in companies at board level have now largely disappeared in Malta, and are now only found in companies belonging to the union or the Malta Labour Party.
more ...European-level Representation
Most Maltese employee representatives for European bodies are elected by a ballot of the whole workforce. However, the legislation is less clear for Maltese members of the representative body and the board of a European Company set up under the fallback procedures.
more ...Health and Safety
Collective agreements govern disputes between employers, reps and workers, and a number of agreements entered into with a trade union also lay down the procedures for electing employee safety reps. Most reps are trade union members, elected or unelected in accordance with the national legislation.
more ...Financial Participation
It wasn’t until the privatization wave in the 1990s that a stock exchange was opened in Malta. Since then, public interest in share-ownership has risen slightly accompanied by a slight growth in employee financial participation schemes.1 Even so, the incidence of employee financial participation in Malta is low in comparison with other European countries.
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