Updated | Employers complain about trade union affiliations of Industrial Tribunal chairpersons

The Malta Employers' Association has expressed serious concerns over new appointments of chairpersons for the Industrial Tribunal, saying the majority all hail from the trade union camp or have an employment history or close connections with one union.

Without specifically naming the union in question - the left-leaning General Workers' Union - the MEA said that it was not questioning the credentials of the individual chairpersons, some of whom have served on the Tribunal for years without any issues.

"The manner manner in which they were selected and the overall composition creates a negative perception of the impartiality of the tribunal which could jeopardise its role as an objective body which takes decisions on cases both from the private and government sectors," the MEA said.

Industrial Tribunal chairmen were asked to resign by Social Dialogue Minister Helena Dalli, as part of the administration's original requests to permanent secretaries and public entity chairpersons to tender their resignations on the election of a new administration.

The government claims the resignation request was sent in line with the letter issued on 12 March by the then Principal Permanent Secretary Godwin Grima. In this letter Permanent Secretaries were ordered to request chairpersons and board members to offer their resignation.

But the MEA said it was against the manner in which chairpersons were asked to offer their resignation, some of which were removed even though they had pending cases.

"These cases will now have to be heard from scratch, which results in a waste of time and resources. MEA appealed to government to reconsider these appointments and seek consensus with the social partners to ensure an effective Industrial Tribunal which is respected by employers, unions and society in general irrespective of partisan opinions and allegiances," the MEA said.

The GRTU also joined in the chorus of disapproval against the new appointments.

"We expected more participation from the social partners under the new Labour government, but the decision to have the chairmen resign is a strange one. Some of the new appointments are biased towards unions and some have a major conflict of interest because they fall under the direct influence of the largest Maltese employer, the public sector," the GRTU said.

In a reaction, the ministry for social dialogue said the MEA was incorrect in stating that the majority of tribunal chairpersons came from the trade union camp.

"The chairpersons come from various fields of expertise. MEA is also claiming that since some of the chairpersons' resignations were accepted, the cases which they were handling have to be heard from scratch. This is not the case.

"The Employment and Industrial Relations Act states that 'a person actually serving as Chairperson of the Tribunal shall, notwithstanding the removal of his name from the panel, continue so to serve in the proceedings in which he is serving as chairperson until the conclusion of those proceedings and for the purpose of the interpretation of any award given therein'."