Angry exchange over inadvertent omission

The right to hold sympathy strikes has been retained in the new bill on employment and industrial relations, Social Policy Minister Lawrence Gonzi said at a news conference yesterday.

The provision in the White Paper which states that workers can only strike over disputes with their employers - one of the main bones of contention between trade unions and the government - has been discarded.

The bill retained the definition of `trade dispute` as found in the existing law, said Dr Gonzi.

The bill at first incurred the wrath of the General Workers` Union over the omission of part of the wording relating to the definition of `worker`.

However, the omission was inadvertent and an oversight, the ministry said later.

In a statement, the ministry said the definion should remain the same as in the Industrial Relations Act, including the last paragraph which was originally left out.

This paragraph states: "...and in relation to a trade dispute to which an employer is a party, `worker` includes any worker even if not employed by that employer".

Before the ministry corrected the omission, the GWU had claimed in a statement that the government had gone back on its word and taken away the right of employees to hold sympathy strikes.

The section secretaries of the GWU met yesterday after Dr Gonzi`s news conference and concluded that in spite of all the government`s promises and consultations with the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development, the government had gone back on its word.

The GWU said: "The government has stuck to its intention to remove the right of workers to show solidarity by means of the sympathy strike.

"The government has removed that right by changing the definition of `worker` and eliminated the possibility that workers can take action in support of other workers.

"In this way, the right to strike in sympathy has been removed automatically and also, therefore, the right to a general strike," the GWU said.

Effectively, this bill was no gift for Workers` Day when one also took into consideration the long list of essential services that it includes, the union said. Workers considered to form part of the essential services were not permitted to strike under the law.

The GWU said this list was far too long and went beyond the recommendations of the International Labour Organisation.

The union said that in the coming days it would be going into the details of the bill together with its legal advisers and would be calling a meeting of its national council.

The GWU said it felt that with this bill, the government had gone way beyond its promise not to "create upheavals in industrial relations".

Later, the ministry`s explanation of the omission was not well received by the union, which said it did not believe in coincidences.

The union said it found it hard to believe that the last paragraph of the definition was left out in both the English and Maltese versions when the bill should have been examined in detail before being presented to parliament.

The GWU said this showed that it (the union) had been proved right when it had insisted on consultation before the bill was published because this oversight would not have come about.

This omission highlights the fact that the GWU, now more than ever, had to carry out a detailed study of this bill which was so important to workers, the union said.

Speaking at the news conference, held at the ministry in Valletta, Dr Gonzi said the new law would be called the Employment and Industrial Relations Act. The draft bill was expected to reach the committee stage before the summer recess of the House of Representatives and should be enacted by October, Dr Gonzi said.

The minister said that the number of workers deemed in the White Paper to carry out essential health services had been substantially reduced following proposals by the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses and the Medical Association of Malta.

Dr Gonzi said that the Act was family friendly and assisted gender mainstreaming by providing greater protection for women.

"This bill will give extensive new rights to workers which in other countries have taken years of hard work to achieve.

"The government is recognising these rights because it strongly believes that economic progress results from social progress and vice versa," the minister said.

The innovations in the bill range from parental leave to protection for part-timers and workers on a fixed term contract.

The bill is proposing that workers who offer an essential service and do not have the right to strike may take their case to the Joint Negotiating Council and if the issue is not resolved by the council they can then take their case to the Industrial Tribunal.

"The proof that the draft bill represents a great advance for workers` rights lies in the fact that the government will - once the bill becomes law - be able to sign and ratify seven conventions of the International Labour Organisation and sign the revised Social Charter of the Council of Europe."

The minister said that the government had received proposals on the White Paper from 28 organisations as well as from experts in the field of labour relations and "we have accepted a large number of these".

Asked whether he expected any more lobbying from various quarters, particularly trade unions, once the government had accepted so many proposals, Dr Gonzi said that the bill still had to be vetted by parliament and further amendments would be possible during the parliamentary debate.

The government is also looking into the possibility of extending the new rights to civil servants.

The privileged wage - that is the wage given to workers once the company they work for is declared bankrupt - has been amended following proposals by the banking sector.

The White Paper had suggested that such workers would be paid the equivalent of five months wages but the banking sector had pointed out that in the case of managerial positions such a wage would affect the conditions that banks apply when granting overdraft and other loan facilities.

In order to overcome this hurdle, the bill is proposing that the privileged wage will be equivalent to three months` wages which, however, cannot exceed six months of the national minimum wage.

In the case of the bankruptcy of a firm, workers will be the first on the list of creditors. For the first five years, the fund for this purpose will be guaranteed by the government, Dr Gonzi said.

Gejtu Vella, Union Haddiema Maghqudin secretary general, who was on union business in Gozo yesterday said that as soon as he was informed by UHM president Gejtu Tanti of the contents of the bill, he immediately phoned the minister to get his reaction.

"I reminded Dr Gonzi that on more than one occasion the prime minister and the minister of social policy had promised that the right to sympathy strike would be retained.

"Dr Gonzi assured me that the omission from the bill of the right to strike had been an oversight and that he would issue a statement to rectify it," Mr Vella said.