One of the recurrent themes in the industrial relations scenario has lately been the lack of trade union rights for police officers and other members of a disciplined force.
The Employment and Industrial Relations Act does not extend trade union rights to the police. In defining the scope of “employment” in relation to a trade dispute, this law includes any relationship whereby one person does work or performs services for another, other than a service as member of a disciplined force. This proviso, also inserted in the definition of “worker” and “contract of service”, denies members of the police force and of the armed forces the right to join a trade union or to participate in sympathy with the actions of a trade union.
Complementary to EIRA, the law relating to the operations of the police prohibits officers from joining trade unions or similar organisations, other than the Malta Police Association. According to the Police Act, as amended in 2002, the aim of this association is to promote the welfare and professional efficiency of its members, including matters concerning their hours of duty, leave, pay and allowances, pensions and other conditions of service and rules of discipline in general and defend individuals in disciplinary proceedings. This association must be registered with the Commissioner of Police, who may not refuse registration provided that the association statute is not in conflict with the law and the association represents not less than 15 per cent of the whole force. The European Committee for Social Rights said these legal provisions are in conformity with the Charter because it considers that judicial proceedings afford appropriate protection against arbitrary refusal for registration.
In spite of this, the general trade unions have been campaigning to give the right to the police to become trade union members. In May 2009, the Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin held a meeting about this with Police Commissioner John Rizzo and Sonny Portelli, chairman of the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development, Malta’s tripartite national institution for social dialogue. Following a press conference on the theme Trade Union Rights For Police Officers, UĦM officials met with Deputy Prime Minster Tonio Borg and with officials of the Malta Police Association. In a follow-up to these initiatives, the secretary general of Eurofedop, Bert Van Caalenberg, visited Malta to advise the UĦM on the matter.
This issue was raised again after a judicial protest by members of the police force about overtime pay they are allegedly due. In January 2010, the General Workers’ Union held a seminar about Trade Union Representation For The Police. The Police Commissioner, one of the speakers at the seminar, sounded very cautious about trade union rights for the police, expressing fears that such rights could lead officers to claim that certain orders may fall outside their remit or job description.
Anġlu Farrugia, a former police superintendent, a member of Parliament and also deputy leader of the Labour Party, expressed his agreement with trade union representation for the police on condition they would not have the right to strike.
In an answer to a parliamentary question, Justice and Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici was quoted as saying the government was discussing the police officers’ right to become trade union members.
The GWU welcomed this statement and has now appealed to the government to extend this right to members in the armed forces.
During a business breakfast seminar organised by the Nationalist Party in May 2010, GWU secretary general Tony Zarb raised the issue and appealed to the Prime Minister, who was present, to give members of the disciplined corps the right to join trade unions
The issue is, of course, highly contentious and may indeed be tenuous to the public because the work of the police is considered to be an essential service in guaranteeing the security society and the community need for the maintenance of order. In view of this, many people contend that their duties have to be performed within the parameters of a disciplined force. Hence the cautious and low key reference by the Police Commission about granting such a right to the police.
On the other hand, the police officers claim that their duties often entail tasks such as driving, delivering official documents, clerical work and carrying corpses, activities that would qualify them to be defined as workers. There should therefore be no qualms about their right to join a trade union.
It looks as if the Police Association has not lived up to the expectations of the various members in matters related to their conditions of work. Moreover, it can be argued there are various other workers deemed to be providing an “essential service” under the Employment and Industrial Relations Act who are allowed to join trade unions and undertake legitimate industrial action subject to the provision of a minimum and basic or emergency service, which is meticulously prescribed in the law.
Why not extend the same treatment to members of the police force and other members of a disciplined force?
The author is associate researcher at the Centre of Labour Studies at the University of Malta.