The General Workers Union has commissioned a report on precarious employment.
The report will be concluded later this month and will be presented to the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development, which will , in turn, make recommendations to the government, GWU general secretary Tony Zarb said this morning.
When asked about the report, he said it was being compiled by people from outside the union. These people were not being named for now because the compilation of the report was still in progress.
Stakeholders in the sector were being interviewed by those compiling the report.
Mr Zarb was speaking during a conference on precarious employment in the security industry. He said that there was still no definition of precarious work but the GWU would come up with one in its report.
The union, he said, was the first organisation that started speaking about precarious employment. He expressed satisfaction that the government understood the situation and that it could not continue.
Mr Zarb said the union had issued a number of statements in the past days naming and shaming security companies and the feedback it received was positive.
Services section secretary Cory Greenland said that by the end of last year the union had reached a collective agreement with three security companies employing a total 800 people.
It was, in the meantime, undergoing discussions with another three. If an agreement with them was reached, a total of 1,200 from the 1,800 security workers on the island would be covered by a collective agreement
Mr Greenland said that some of the biggest abuses came from security companies. A security guard cost an employer €5.66 an hour according to union calculations, so he could not understand how there could be contractors who requested a lower payment than this.
The biggest abuses by security companies included not giving their workers vocational and sick leave, using part timers to save on national insurance and benefits, abusing from an ETC scheme which partly subsidised new jobs, not paying overtime rates, placing workers on definite contracts, making workers pay for training and uniforms and making them work their break without pay.
MEA would only accept internationally recognised definition of precarious employment
In a statement this afternoon, the Malta Employers Association said it will not accept any definition of precarious employment which was not internationally recognised.
It also said it would not be drawn into discussions about any labour market issue which was not measured or properly defined.
Whilst condemning abuses at the workplace, whether they committed by employers, unions or employees, the association reiterated its position that a number of practices which werebbeing labelled as precarious were, in reality, illegal practices which could be stopped through better law enforcement, self regulation efforts and ethical public procurement processes.
The association said it would be foolish and counterproductive to consider introducing further legislation when the legal infrastructure for curbing such irregularities already existed.
"The MEA calls for an informed and mature approach and dialogue between the stakeholders involved to generate a healthy work environment which guarantees fair competition and which through proper law enforcements respects the rights of employees."