[WATCH] Union wants skills passport for hospitality workers

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The General Workers Union has called for the introduction of a skills passport for workers in the hospitality sector, in a bid to improve the prospects of career-minded workers in the sector.

The GWU said the project has been in the making for the past 12 years across the EU, and that the skills passport would help employers better assess workers’ capabilities in an area of work that tends to depend on seasonal labour.

The passport, available online, would include extensive detail about qualifications, experience and skills for this sector, and give a broader picture of what workers are capable of doing.

Secretary general Josef Bugeja explained that given that the EU wide project had been scrapped, the GWU was pushing for its implementation on a national level, with the aim of it being valid throughout the EU by following EU standards.

“However important the sector is, precarious jobs and often mediocre pays and conditions have always been rife in tourism,” Bugeja said, adding that the passport would be a step in a number of initiatives designed to fight precarious work in the sector.

He added that employers who offered poor working conditions would be tagged in an online name and shame system.

Bugeja further explained that the GWU was now seeking a meeting with the government and other stakeholders, such as the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association, to begin working on the passport system.

“The system seeks to put value back into the service and to encourage more Maltese people to consider a career in the industry, rather than treat it as a one-off, seasonal job,” he said, adding that the passport could help in career advancement given its level of detail.

“There are some skills connected to the industry that people are unaware of,” he said. “For instance, people might not be aware of the different skills necessary for waiters working in silver service establishments as opposed to the skills necessary at cafes.”

He further explained that a review of various collective agreements signed by its members in the sector had revealed “mediocre” salaries, and discrepancies which the union sought to change in the near future.