Should membership in a trade union be made mandatory? Most trade unions will obviously be tempted to say yes but the choice ought to be left to the individual worker and to no one else.
The issue was raised at the recent general conference of the Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin, now being called UĦM Voice of the Worker. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat made it clear that, in the bid to fight precarious employment, his government had no plans to introduce obligatory trade union membership as this could be deemed unconstitutional and possibly in breach of EU law.
There are many reasons why workers ought to join a trade union, but it will be wrong to take away their right to decide for themselves on whether they should or should not join a trade union, or, for that matter, a trade union of their choice. Just as there are good reasons for workers to join a trade union, there may well be other, equally valid reasons for workers not to join, such as, for example, when unions are over-zealous in toeing a political party line.
Dr Muscat was apparently reacting to a Times of Malta story that revealed that over the past two years some 3,000 employment irregularities were uncovered in tourism and catering sectors. Both sectors are known to be taking on an ever-increasing number of foreign workers at inferior working conditions. This is unfair and immoral. So long as these people are legally entitled to work here, they ought to be treated just like other workers. Some employers take advantage of Maltese labour as well.
Dr Muscat said that, unfortunately, workers in certain small and medium-size enterprises were reluctant to join a trade union as they felt that doing so would put their job on the line. They also complain that the State is not doing enough to protect them. Since it is general knowledge that abuses are taking place not just in tourism and the catering sector but in the construction industry as well, greater effective action needs to be taken to check unfair treatment.
According to reports of the general conference, the UĦM chief executive, Josef Vella, rejected the Prime Minister’s argument, insisting there was nothing wrong in making trade union membership mandatory. Mr Vella felt that making trade union membership mandatory would be a giant stride forward for workers’ rights. Would it? A strong union representation at a place of work strengthens a trade union’s negotiating power but, however important this is, it should not be done at the expense of taking away a worker’s right to decide for himself whether or not to join a trade union.
There are places in the United States where workers opting not to join a trade union are made to pay what they call an agency fee, a contribution paid towards the cost involved in collective bargaining and grievance representation. This at least makes sense as a non-union member in a unionised place of work is bound to benefit from a collective agreement negotiated by a trade union on behalf of the majority of workers in the enterprise. However, in states where union membership was required to have a job, unions were found to have higher dues and were far less efficient than in states that did not require union membership as a condition of employment.
It is therefore best to leave the situation as it is, leaving the decision on whether to join or not to join in the hands of the workers themselves.