The role of social dialogue discussed

The Malta Council for Economic and Social Development (MCESD) should be strengthened and be better resourced, a recent seminar at the Employment and Training Corporation concluded.

The seminar was an activity in a project in which Malta is participating as an EU acceding country. It was entitled "The Role of Social Dialogue in the Preparation for Economic and Monetary Union in the Candidate Countries".

EU acceding countries Estonia, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia are taking part in the project, which is being carried out jointly between the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions and the Swedish Work Life and EU Enlargement Project.

As part of the project each country was asked to draft a development plan that sets out its economic situation and the industrial relations scenario.

The plan for Malta, drafted by Prof. Edward Zammit, was discussed during the seminar at the Employment and Training Corporation in Hal-Far.

Present for the seminar were European Foundation officials and high-level representatives of the local major trade unions; employers' associations; government departments of women's issues, social security, employment and industrial relations and other labour market organisations.

Participants discussed the obstacles encountered in social dialogue in Malta and agreed that the MCESD should be strengthened and that it should provide a forum for bipartite dialogue between employers and employees' representatives; and a supportive framework for social dialogue be created to provide systematic monitoring and evaluation of bi-and tri-partite social dialogue.

As a follow-up to the seminar, in the coming year an action plan to implement the proposals agreed during the seminar and presented in the development plan will be launched.