The GWU this afternoon urged the authorities to investigate any information they received on the exploitation of part-timer workers so that the purpose of new rights given recently to these workers would not be defeated.

The union observed that under a recently-published legal notice, part-time workers were given the right to pro-rata payment of salaries and benefits as full timers.

The union said the legal notice (117/2010) applied also to part-time worker engaged before the new law was enacted and part-timers who did not pay social security contributions on their part-time work because they did so for their full-time occupation.

One of the aims of the new legislation, it said, was to remove the possibility of exploitation made when workers were engaged by a number of different companies belonging to the same owner in an attempt to deny them benefits for the hours they would have worked.

The GWU said it had worked hard to see such rights be realised - including the pro-rata right for bonuses, annual leave and sick-leave.

It was important now to ensure that employers followed the rules. Some employers, it said, were still ignoring their obligations. It therefore called on the authorities to enforce the law and to investigate all reports of abuse.