Workers should always be members of a trade union as this would result in better work conditions and their rights being protected, President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca has said. 

She was speaking at the signing of a collective agreement between the General Workers’ Union and the Community Chest Foundation for workers at the Kitchen Garden.

The GWU has been campaigning for mandatory trade union membership. It formally called on social partners to kickstart a discussion on its proposal for all employees in Malta to be obliged to join a trade union of their choice.

In a letter to the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development (MCESD), union secretary-general Josef Bugeja said it had received positive feedback from Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Opposition leader Adrian Delia when first announced in October.

Read: GWU wants discussion on compulsory union membership

President Coleiro Preca said: “Workers must always be organised into a trade union, not only when things are not going well, but also when they are, as this is the way to ensure their welfare.”

In 2014, President Coleiro Preca had launched the National Forum of Trade Unions.