Updated | ‘Selection of industrial tribunal chairpersons skewed’ – employers’ association

The selection of the chairpersons of the Industrial Tribunal was "heavily skewed" in favour of persons who have or have had connections with the General Workers' Union, the Malta Employers Associaton reiterated today.

"There can be no denying that employers are underrepresented and that one particular union has a dominant position in the composition of the team of industrial tribunal chairpersons."

The MEA also insisted the ministry's assertion that cases in the process of being heard will continue to be handled by the chairpersons who have been removed is "incorrect".

"The fact is that the Malta Employers' Association has received official written notification from the office of the Industrial Tribunal that industrial tribunal sessions have been cancelled because the chairperson has been removed and is no longer authorized to continue hearing the case," it said.

The notification specified the cases would be heard by a new chairperson.

"While the minister has the authority to remove a chairman, the minister cannot and should not interrupt a case in process. The chairman who refused to hand in his resignation guaranteed his right to conclude his pending cases. This is a fundamental principle."

The association stated that, while it is not questioning the integrity of the appointed persons, the manner in which this issue has been handled raises serious concerns.

In a reaction, the ministry insisted the MEA was "incorrect" in its evaluation of the Industrial Tribunal Chairpersons.

"The Chairpersons come from various fields of expertise and have been chosen on the basis of their competence," the ministry said.

It added that Chairpersons whose resignation was accepted will continue to handle the cases they were working on.   This was in line with the Employment and Industrial Relations Act.

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.