The latest report from the Registrar of Trade Unions, with a breakdown of union membership by trade union and gender, was published without much fanfare in the Government Gazette on January 20.
A cursory glance would suggest good news: by June 2016, no fewer than 2,400 union members were added to the tally of 94,200 members, organised in 24 trade unions, who were registered in June 2015.
This is a modest increase, but an increase nevertheless.
Indeed, this figure is a record number of registered trade union members for Malta, and the iconic barrier of 100,000 may be breached in the next few years.
A closer look, however, would cock some eyebrows and raise some serious concerns. Almost the whole increase in membership recorded between 2015 and 2016 can be explained by the setting up of the two trade unions – of course, there had to be two – now organising police officers.
This is a distinct labour market segment which was deemed exempt from trade union affiliation – a relic of the colonial administration – until the relevant legislation was changed in February 2015.
Between them, the newly registered Malta Police Association and the Police Officers Union boast almost 2,000 members.
Other than this change, only the Malta Union of Teachers, Malta’s oldest registered trade union and soon to celebrate its 100th anniversary, registered a perceptible increase of four per cent, or 430 members, taking its membership tally to 9,230.
Otherwise, the country’s only two general unions, the General Workers’ Union (GWU) with 50,000 members and the Unjon Ħaddiema Magħqudin (UHM) with 25,000, registered increases of fewer than 100 members each.
It is very much a case of status quo for the remaining trade union organisations.
This observation would be no cause for alarm in a stable economic environment. But the situation is anything but.
An additional 24,350 persons secured full-time employment in Malta in the three years up to June 2016, and some 90 per cent of these did so in the private sector. This is a formidable achievement for a country with a national labour force that is nearing its own all-time record of 200,000.
A way forward suggests trade unions developing innovative programmes and packages that appeal to the new generation of millennials
That increase amounts to around 20 persons joining the labour force per day. But hardly any of these newcomers to the Maltese labour market appear to be joining a trade union.
Trade unions seem caught on the wrong foot. True, the public sector (including both public service and State-owned entities) is as densely unionised as it gets: there, union penetration and representation is almost 100 per cent. But the private sector is a different story: small- and medium-size enterprises are practically union free.
Only the largest manufacturing, hotel and financial establishments have recognised trade unions operating therein, meaning that a particular union can claim half or more of the total employees (or the employees belonging to a particular trade or profession) as its members.
And the economic areas that are seeing the largest increases in local employment – gaming, financial intermediation, personal care, catering and hospitality and construction – have been traditionally suspicious of, or averse to, trade unions and their agendas.
Compounding the problem is the large number of foreign workers – over 32,000 in part- and full-time employment and self-employment, according to the latest figures – many of whom are not particularly disposed to entertain union affiliation, preferring (or succumbing to) individual negotiation with their employer to secure their conditions of employment.
A way forward suggests trade unions developing innovative programmes and packages that appeal to the new generation of millennials, who are not so interested in the classic, left-wing mantras of worker solidarity and class struggle.
Campaigning for work-life balance, healthy lifestyles, flexible work arrangements, study leave, attractive workspaces, gym-time vouchers and wholesome canteen food can make unions attractive to new members.
Taking on issues of national importance beyond the immediacy of the workplace should also help: trade unions can be among the loudest voices arguing for improvements to the mechanism that establishes the national minimum wage, as well as fair compen-sation for the unbridled, galloping increases in the cost of buying or renting property in Malta.
Trade union leadership cadres that reflect and are chosen from this new, young and diverse constituency can also help with the trade unions’ ‘image problem’: are there just too many grey-haired and balding men running the union show?
A stubborn irrelevance to young people’s lives will not spell a bright future for trade unions. Offering exciting improvements to workers’ livelihoods where it matters most to them should.
godfrey.baldacchino@um.edu.mt
Godfrey Baldacchino is professor of sociology at the University of Malta.