The Cabinet of Ministers is today expected to discuss a proposed law giving members of the Police Force (but presumably also other disciplined forces, such as the Civil Protection Department) the right of association with a trade union.
The Attorney General will give ample advice to the Cabinet to enable it to come to a decision that reconciles the interests of society with the specific interests of the members of these forces, perhaps also in the light of electoral promises made.
The issue is of national, not sectoral interest.
To date, members of the police and other corps are not allowed to join a trade union. The reasoning behind such a prohibition is possibly obvious – namely that the forces entrusted with keeping law and order should be available all the time and society should not expect even to have a minute’s uncertainty over its security. A country ought to feel safe and secure all the time and security forces should not be allowed to abdicate such responsibilites by being given the right to strike.
This is the situation in practically all states, certainly European ones. In recent months, the Police Federation in the UK voted to overturn a historic ban on their right to strike. With some 45,500 members voting in favour and 10,500 against, the federation sent a clear message that its members want the right to strike.
Whether this is to be deemed a first step in that direction and whether the UK will eventually succumb to such pressure is yet to be seen.
If a trade union cannot obtain results, then giving the police the right to join one can only lead to undermining the credibility and effectiveness of trade unions
In Malta, a discussion is under way on granting members of the forces of law and order the right to join a trade union without the right to strike. As far as I recall, and I stand to be corrected, both parties are in agreement on this.
I beg to differ. I am against the idea that members of our forces should join a trade union. I speak here on a purely personal level, irrespective of my professional work. Having said this, I am all in favour of giving them more rights. And I am confident that I can reconcile these two positions.
Joining an already established general union would mean that the members of our forces would be intrinsically involved in our political system, whether with a small “p” or with a big “P”. This is to be avoided at all costs. This alone is a strong enough reason to discard any idea of allowing police personnel to join a general trade union. The corps should not be politicised.
The alternative is to give them the right to form a house union of sorts. Do we really need to? No, we do not.
I mean this with no disrespect to any trade union. I believe in the role of every single one of them on the island and I would defend their rights and existence in the same way I will always defend a person’s right to association as long as reasonable and legitimate.
However, today, members of our forces are by law already organised into associations (at least most of them are).
I strongly believe that we should not jump the gun, and should only legislate to strengthen such associations rather than re-inventing the wheel and providing their members with the possibility of joining a trade union.
A few weeks ago, the Civil Protection Association managed to obtain a very positive result in the Court of Appeal, which re-affirmed a decision it had previously taken whereby the Government was ordered to compose the Joint Negotiating Council.
I believe that what forces’ members are interested in is getting results rather than joining a trade union as such. If a trade union cannot obtain results, then giving the police the right to join one can only lead to undermining the credibility and effectiveness of trade unions – and I guess no trade union would want this.
The statutes of the exisiting associations, as established by law, have as their primary objectives similar ideals and principles to those of trade unions.
So the structure already exists. These associations now need to be given more responsibility and more bargaining power. Not the right to strike, obviously, nor the right to instruct their members to take any other form of industrial action, but the right to take legimitate action in the best interests of their members as well as of society at large.
All we need is a clear structure within which decisions can be taken in case of a stalemate. To this effect, I propose that the only appropriate legislative changes that need to be made are, in brief, the following
• Establish an association for all forces, particularly those whose personnel are not yet members of such an association.
• Establish, if need be, a federation for these seperate associations.
• Provide democratic structures and, if necessary, funding for these associations.
• Provide a structure within which mediation and conciliation proceedings can take place when the need arises, specifically regulaed by a time-frame of, say, six months.
• Provide the associations with the right to take their claims before an adjudication tribunal, whether it is the Industrial Tribunal or an ad hoc tribunal, in order that the issues be hammered out once and for all, with decisions binding on the parties.
In this way, the association would achieve results. Successive governments have, since 1976, procrastinated and avoided the Joint Negotiating Council, until the Civil Protection Assocation took the plunge to successfully challange the Government.
No government ever wanted this – the situation was comfortable the way it was.
I now call the bluff of the Government and Opposition alike – no more, possibly fake, promises.
The people who provide for our security, the people who save our lives when we’re in danger, the people who risk their lives for us, are workers who want results. No trade union will be able to achieve results if it is impaired and weakened in its duties as a union.
Hence my appeal to the Cabinet of Ministers and the Opposition: I believe that it is not the name of their organisation that these workers are interested in, it is legislative provisions giving them the right to obtain results when they have greviences that need to be settled without delay.
These people deserve it.
Ian Spiteri Bailey is a specialised employment and industrial relations lawyer.