Police are unhappy with draft union law

The Police Association fears that the provisions proposed in the draft law to turn it into a union will not allow it to function properly.

A “disappointed” Police Association pointed out that a year had passed since it should have legally become a union but nothing had happened.

The Bill presented in Parliament did not reflect the wishes of the police corps, especially since the association was never consulted on the proposals, it said.

The association has been calling on the government to change the law since 2005 but it was only last November that then Justice Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici said this would happen.

Although the association would become a union, it would not be able to order industrial action and could not associate itself with any other union.

The Police Association thus felt that the proposed union was a union only in name and would never be able to work towards improving the conditions of the police.

“The proposals don’t address existing problems. On the other hand, it removes certain remedies like turning to mediation if an agreement isn’t reached in the Police Negotiation Board,” the association said.

Police officers in most European countries were allowed to join a union and enjoyed more rights than those proposed in the Bill, it added.