New type of precarious work

We criticise the arguments about precarious employment put forward by Joe Farrugia of the Malta Employers’ Association during an information session on “banking hours” and the status of self-employed people organised by the association.

Mr Farrugia claimed that the phenomenon of precarious work in Malta is not a problem and that reports about it are “exaggerated”. We appreciate that a number of workplaces exist where workers enjoy adequate conditions, thanks to the fact that the workers are members of a trade union.

Mr Farrugia said he found nothing to define precarious jobs in ILO rules and documents. He failed to mention that the ILO talks about flexibility and states that flexibility in the labour market is bringing more precariousness, unfair competition between workers, wage cuts, inequality in the labour market, insecurity, stress and alienation.

In Malta, the increase in part-time jobs, other short-term fixed contracts, agency workers and self employed are all types of new work practices being utilised to keep the workers from improving their conditions of work and preventing them from being organised in a trade union.

Obviously, the commercial sector gains from this so-called job flexibility as this practice keeps wages low and thereby increases profits. Flexibility should not mean precariousness.

We can mention the case of a company where newcomers are employed on different work contracts. This, Żminijietna – Voice of the Left believes, is leading to discrimination because they are employed with less pay for equal work and have no job security and without the possibility to plan a future. This system places great difficulty on workers even when they apply for a bank loan.

Żminijietna appeals to unions to jointly work towards the revision of the Conditions of Employment Regulations Act so as to protect workers from this new type of precarious employment.

For ETUC, decent work means regular work with decent wages and proper conditions.

The MEA should work within this context and not try to convince people that precariousness is not an issue.

All over the world precariousness has been seen as a race to the bottom.