Government discrimination

I refer to the excellent article The Fixed Term Job by Simon Micallef Stafrace (October 5).

The Association of Local Councils Executive Secretaries, (ASKLM) whose members are employed on a three-year definite contract basis, lodged a formal complaint with the European Commission in March this year, contending that the government was in breach of EU Directive 1999/70/EC.

This law was the result of an agreement reached in 1999 by three European organisations representing the social partners - The Union of Industrial and Employers Confederation of Europe (UNICE), The European Centre of Enterprises with Public Participation (CEEP) and the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). These organisations concluded a framework agreement on fixed-term contracts setting out the general principles and minimum requirements for such contracts and employment relationships, which was eventually enacted into EU Law.

According to this directive, all employees within the EU who have been working on a fixed-term contract basis for more than four years are entitled to an indefinite contract after their fourth year of employment. The government transposed this directive into Maltese Law by means of Legal Notice 429/2002 dealing with fixed-term contracts of service.

In section 7(5) of the Legal Notice, however, the government explicitly excluded public sector employees by stating that "further to the provisions of article 48 of the Act, this regulation shall not be applicable to employment in the public sector". The provisions were incorporated into the Employment and Industrial Relations Act and using double standards, Maltese lawmakers, saddled the private sector with the provisions of EU Directive 1999/70/EC, while absolving the government from these responsibilities.  

We are surprised that the social partners and the unions let this go by without a whimper, especially since clause 5 annexed to the directive states: "Member states after consultation with the social partners and/or the social partners shall, where appropriate, determine under what conditions fixed-term employment contracts or relationships: (a) shall be regarded as successive (b) shall be deemed to be contracts or relationships of indefinite duration".

In July, the European Commission asked the government to justify its position on excluding employees on a fixed-term contract with the public service from the benefits they are entitled to under EU Directive 1999/70/EC.  

If the Commission is not convinced by the justification submitted by the government, it might propose amendments to the Maltese subsidiary legislation. If the government persists in its position, then the case could be taken to the European Court of Justice which would be the final arbiter.  

If it comes to this, the ETUC has offered The Association of Local Councils Executive Secretaries, (ASKLM) its services, legal or otherwise, free of charge.  We sincerely hope that the situation will be remedied before it reaches this stage.

I should point out that before submitting our formal complaint to the European Commission, my association held meetings with MEPs Simon Busuttil and Joseph Muscat, who tried to resolve the matter with the government through a meeting last October with the minister responsible for employment relations Louis Galea.  

The minister had then said that he would seek advice from the Cabinet and asked ASKLM to give him a few weeks grace. Last March, totally exasperated at the lack of communication from the powers that be, and after seeking consensus from our members at an extraordinary general meeting, we submitted our complaint.

As Dr Micallef Stafrace very aptly says - The discrimination which the government has created between employees in the public sector and employees in the private sector is in effect a complete negation of the raison d'etre of the EU itself.