Employers rail against union-instigated labour laws

The Malta Employers Association (MEA) has launched an offensive against trade unions for "instigating" government into enacting "unwarranted" legislation and legal notices on new overtime rules for employees.

In a conference dealing with the new rules, MEA director-general Joe Farrugia emphatically denied that employers were abusing workers through precarious, part-time employment.

Farrugia accused unions and politicians from all parties of fabricating lies about employers over job precarity - people who depend on part-time work for their living  and similar work conditions. "Only a small fraction of employers are guilty of abuse," Farrugia said, who also called on the media not to generalise.

Farrugia warned that employers "cannot be taken for granted" and any decisions concerning them should be "preceded by adequate consultation and based on objective research, rather then conjuncture."

"Many public statements about employment conditions in Malta are being based on anecdotal evidence, rather than facts. This is generating an overreaction which is leading to legislative measures which are unwarranted."

Farrugia said that there was no explicit definition of precarious employment and unions and politicians were giving a wrong picture about the issue.

He said the MEA was unhappy about the new legal notices issued without "adequate consultation with the employers affected".

Farrugia said one such case is the legal notice affecting security companies which came in force without consultation with security companies, although discussions with trade unions had taken place.

Farrugia said that the regulations on self-employment cut "across all sectors of the economy" instead of addressing sectors where "abusive practices are taking place." Farrugia pointed out that Malta has a lower rate of self-employed than the EU average. "The same applies to people of definite period contracts and also those on part time employment."

New MEA data suggests that Malta has 11% of workers who are self-employed, compared to the 18% EU average. Farrugia added that the low number of employees on definite contracts was a sign that the issue of precarious employment has been exaggerated by unions and political parties.

According to Farrugia, the "absolute majority" of persons working part-time do so out of choice and not because they cannot find alternative employment. "This is proven by the increase in female participation over the past few years from 33% to 40%," Farrugia said, pointing out that a higher level of women participating in the labour market indicated a healthier life-work balance.

Trade unions and political parties, namely Labour and Alternattiva Demokratika, have argued that precarious work leads to inferior working conditions and makes it easier for employers to terminate work contracts. They argue that precarious work exists in both the private and public sectors and brings fewer rights and less protection to employees.

Unions and parties have been calling on government to introduce economic, fiscal and social policies geared towards full employment and income equality. AD argues that the minimum wage should be increased. Unions also stress the need for a regulatory framework to reduce and eradicate precarious work and to empower workers by promoting collective agreements.

Critics of precarious employment believe that vulnerable persons, such as migrants, persons with disability and women are forced to work without a permit or to register as self-employed in order to lose benefits and conditions.  

Part-time employment in Malta totals to around 30,000 workers and the number of workers on definite contracts has also increased in recent years.

Farrugia criticised Legal Notice 44 of 2012, which concerns employment and industrial relations, saying this would have "serious implications on their relationship with employees and sub-contractors."

The legal notice lays out eight criteria by which a person is legally recognised as self-employed or an employee. If five of the criteria are met, unless an application for exemption is submitted to the director of work, the person is considered as an employee.

Charlotte Farrugia, MEA executive in EU and labour law, said new overtime regulations in Legal Notice 46 of 2012 now stipulate that full-time workers will work any overtime as required by employers, provided that average weekly hours, including overtime, does not exceed 48 hours.

Farrguia said businesses like gaming companies and call centres were not regulated before 2007, and subsequently these sectors were regulated in terms of sick leave, treatment and marriage concessions. However the law did not cover overtime.

The new rules now limit overtime for full-time employees, which cannot exceed the 48-hour average working week. Overtime hours exceeding the normal 40-hour week are paid at time-and-a-half rates, but Farrugia said the new rules don't differentiate between weekdays and weekends.