Unions are unhappy with the temporary changes made to the Industrial Tribunal to bring it in line with the Constitution and may take the matter to the Constitutional Court, The Sunday Times of Malta has learnt.
Although Parliament approved the government’s amendments, the Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin and the Confederation of Trade Unions have doubts over whether the changes went far enough.
Nearly 600 cases before the tribunal were put on hold until Parliament passed new rules guaranteeing its impartiality.
The new measures included a guarantee of the security of tenure of the tribunal members, which increases their term in office from three to four years.
“We are studying our next move, because the changes do not reach our expectations. We still have doubts on whether the changes bring the tribunal in line with the Constitution,” said UĦM general secretary Josef Vella.
The unions are mulling their next move, including the idea of asking the Constitutional Court itself to decide the matter. The CMTU and the UĦM had from the outset declared that the government’s proposals were too weak, calling them a “half-baked temporary solution”.
Mr Vella said his union had always insisted that the tribunal should be headed by a magistrate who knew court procedures and had the legal know-how and the legal frame of mind to tackle such issues.
We still have doubts on whether the changes bring the tribunal inline with the Constitution
“But despite our proposals, we were completely ignored and the government steamrolled with its own set of proposals which we think are not enough.”
The issue goes back to 2014, when the Constitutional Court ruled on two cases filed by the General Workers’ Union challenging the tribunal’s impartiality.
The GWU had argued that the tribunal chairman was “biased” towards one party in the proceedings, especially in cases involving a State entity, for the simple reason that the chair was appointed by the government.
The court ruled in the union’s favour and the judgment was confirmed by the Appeals Court in February this year, throwing all pending cases into limbo.
When contacted, GWU general secretary Josef Bugeja said his union was satisfied with the temporary solution: “I underline ‘temporary solution’ because the bigger changes are still to come, and they will see an overhaul in the way the tribunal operates.
“The matter is being discussed by the Employment Relations Board, which is proposing radical changes to the Employment and Industrial Relations Act that was originally introduced in 2001.
“It needs modernising.”