Improving industrial relations at the place of work

A new masterclass, with the aim of analysing, discussing and possibly coming up with pragmatic suggestions as to how to improve industrial relations within an organisation, will be held on Wednesday at 3 p.m. at Malta Enterprise, San Gwann.

Mr Mario Grixti, who holds an M.Sc in HRM from the University of Manchester and a Diploma in Public Administration from the University of Malta, will facilitate the discussion through a presentation with the active participation of Mr Jesmond Bonello, secretary Public Entities Section at the UHM, and Mr Josef Bugeja, secretary Hospitality and Food Section at the GWU.

The discussion will debate the extent to which industrial relations at the organisational level will affect industrial relations on a national level. Evaluation of how the national climate of industrial relations can influence industrial relations at the organisational level will also be carried out.

HR managers and practitioners from both the public and private sectors will be invited to share experiences on what seems to be the hot issue of industrial relations at the place of work. The discussion will conclude by provoking the audience to question the opportunity cost, both at organisational and national levels, if industrial relations takes an us-and-them approach rather than the we approach.

The discussion will be held in Maltese.

Mr Grixti has occupied the post of CEO in the Human Resources Section and was also secretary to the board of directors of Water Services Corporation. He currently works in the HR department with Heritage Malta.

Prior to joining Heritage Malta, Mr Grixti worked for two years at the Department of Industrial and Employment Relations, where he was directly involved with the Collective Bargaining Unit in the negotiating process of collective agreements of public entities falling within the Ministry of the then Social Policy.

During his term of office at the DIER, Mr Grixti had direct exposure to the application of Maltese labour legislation where he was mainly involved in carrying out recognition exercises and was also an understudy of the director of this department at conciliation meetings.

He was a government representative at the ILO conference and also has lecturing experience at the University of Malta.

Mr Bugeja is a graduate of Industrial Relations from the University of Malta. He has held various active roles within the GWU. His experience with the GWU started when he was elected shop steward with the Department of Post from where he moved on to be be elected general shop steward for the department.

He was also nominated junior secretary on the National Council. Mr Bugeja started his full-time career with the GWU two years ago when he was first assigned to the public sector and in January this year was appointed secretary within the Hospitality and Food section.

Mr Bonello joined the UHM in 1990 after having worked both in the private and public sectors. He was appointed deputy secretary of the Parastatal Section and between 2000 and 2004 he was also appointed president of the UHM Youths, where he organised various seminars related to youths' needs and problems related to the transition period between school and work.

In 2003, he was appointed secretary of the newly set-up Public Entities Section which consists of MEPA, National Statistics Authority, Enemalta, Housing Authority, PBS, MITTS, Broadcasting Authority, Local Councils, University, National Audit Office, Maltacom, Malta Tourism Authority, Appo©©, Sedqa, Maltapost, Occupational Health and Safety Authority, Malta Standards Authority, Water Services Corporation, Employment and Training Authority, and the KNPD.

FHRD members pay Lm8. Non-members pay Lm13. To book, e-mail sagius@fhrd.org providing name, organisation and telephone number. Bookings will be confirmed on receipt of payment. This masterclass will be followed by the FHRD extraordinary meeting at 5.30 p.m. and the bi-annual general meeting at 6.30 p.m. All events will be held at the Malta Enterprise, Industrial Estate, San Gwann.

For more information phone Sandra Agius, executive, Foundation for Human Resources Development, on 2137-8895 (fax: 2138-1945).