Updated Saturday afternoon - The Malta Union of Teachers said this afternoon that a drop of 468 members over the past year was result of a stock-take it had carried out.
Figures issued in the latest report by the registrar of trade unions show that while trade union membership in general increased to 85,722, the MUT saw its membership drop to 7,349 in June from the 7,817 members registered a year earlier.
The MUT in a statement said that over the past months it embarked on a factual stock-take of its membership and eliminated a number of membership accounts that belonged to persons who have left the teaching profession or emigrated to other countries and failed to notify the Union. This was done in order to align itself completely with legal requirements.
"This exercise, coupled to a restructuring of life-membership accounts, has inevitably lead to a temporary decline in membership over the first two quarters of the current year."
The MUT pointed out that during the past month alone it registered registered over a 100 new members.
There are 32 trade unions and 18 employers’ associations on the register.
The figures in the report confirm the General Workers’ Union as the largest union by far with membership totalling 43,002 this year, an increase of 1,427.
Pensioners represented the GWU’s largest section, with 7,283 members, followed by the government and public entities section that had 6,368 members.
The third largest section in the GWU was that representing workers in the energy, chemical and printing sectors, which had 6,365 members. The second largest union was the Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin with 26,592 members, an increase of 485.
The UĦM’s largest section was that representing government employees, with 6,023 members, followed by the manufacturing, IT and private sector section, having 4,634 members.
The Malta Union of Bank Employees ranks third with 3,050 members, unchanged since last year, while the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses had 2,916 members, up from 2,817 members registered the year before.
A number of organisations failed to submit their membership returns and audited accounts for 2010 and some others reported on their membership numbers but did not submit the audited accounts.
The GWU was one of the organisations that submitted a partial return failing to produce audited accounts for 2010.
Among employer associations, the Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises – GRTU had the largest number of members in June at 7,863, an increase of 431 over the previous year.
The Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association registered a drop in membership, down to 365 from 416 a year before, while the Malta Employers’ Association had 412 members, up by 24.
The Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry was not on the register.
Overall, employers’ associations saw membership rise to 9,647, an increase of 375 over the previous year.