UPDATED 3.10pm: The Court of Appeal's decision which confirmed that the composition of the Industrial Tribunal was unconstitutional may have serious ramifications on the decisions pronounced in the last years, the Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin has warned.

"Following the judgement, the UĦM Voice of the Workers is greatly concerned that the recent developments have cast a shadow of uncertainty over the rights afforded to the employees and their right to seek redress before a competent tribunal."

Andrew Grima, one of the UĦM's legal team said that the judgment highlighted the need for a major reform not only in the manner in which the tribunal is composed but throughout all the pertinent body of laws.

"As things stand today, we find ourselves at an impasse whereby although the Industrial Tribunal effectively still enjoys an exclusive jurisdiction to preside over matters falling within the scope of the Employment and Industrial Relations Act, such as unfair dismissal, discrimination and industrial disputes, those seeking to safeguard their interests at law have no alternative but to seek redress before such tribunal and run the risk of having the proceedings suspended or challenged as being unconstitutional.”

The government should have forecast such a situation

While the government has instructed the Attorney General to amend the relative laws, it is not clear whether the pending cases will be suspended or not.

Josef Vella, CEO of UĦM said: "This would certainly wreak havoc in the whole industrial sector. It further underlines that this issue should have been dealt with much earlier by the government, since it was aware of such a situation months ago, yet persisted in the same composition notwithstanding such repercussions.

"The government should have forecast such a situation and took early measures to avoid the lacuna the industrial sector is facing today."

PN reacts

The only government to breach the constitution is that led by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Justice Minister Owen Bonnici, the Nationalist Party said this afternoon.

Statements issued by the Department of Information and the Labour Party with regard to the judgment given by the constitutional court on the industrial tribunal law tried to give the impression that the Nationalist Party was at fault, the PN said in a statement.

Signed by Education Shadow Minister Therese Comodini Cachia and Justice Shadow Minister Jason Azzopardi, the PN said the 2002 law was the same one enacted in 1976 after it was drafted by the General Workers' Union.

The Labour government was aware of the eventuality of such a judgment and yet chose to ignore the situation though it was warned about it by the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development.

"The irony is that in the same week that the government led by Joseph Muscat and with Owen Bonnici as Justice Minister broke the Constitution, it is trying to pin the blame on others," the PN said.

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