Employers’ organisations promoting the interests of private sector businesses and employers have existed in Malta since the 19th century. However, most such organisations have been set up in the last 40 years. Today, there are four main employers’ organisations that can be regarded as national 'peak' associations. This article examines the structure of these organisations and their situation in 2003.
Malta has four national 'peak' employers' organisations - the Association of General Retailers and Traders (GRTU), Malta Employers’ Association (MEA), Malta Chamber of Commerce (COC), and Malta Federation of Industry (FOI). This article examines the structure, membership, tasks and responsibilities of these organisations, as of late 2003.
Employers’ organisations promoting the interests of private sector businesses and employers have existed in Malta since the 19th century. However, most such organisations have been set up in the last 40 years. Today, there are four main employers’ organisations that can be regarded as national 'peak' associations. This article examines the structure of these organisations and their situation in 2003.
National 'peak' organisations
The government’s official 'Register of Employer Associations' listed 24 employers’ associations as at June 2002. Most of these are specialised organisations representing sectoral interests. These employers’ organisations are regulated by the Employment and Industrial Relations Act 2002 (Act No. XXII of 2002). Another two employers’ associations, the Malta Chamber of Commerce and the Malta Federation of Industry, are not registered under the Register of Employer Associations.
The following four bodies are regarded national 'peak' organisations:
the Association of General Retailers and Traders (GRTU);
the Malta Employers’ Association (MEA);
the Malta Chamber of Commerce (COC); and
the Malta Federation of Industry (FOI).
Apart from three associations of organisations incorporated within FOI, all the members of the other NEPAs are single organisations.
Membership domain and developments
GRTU is a national organisation of independent private businesses. Its statute provides for a 'multi-type' organisation of businesses that possess a common cause. The six divisions under which entrepreneurs can join the association's different sections are: supply of household and personal goods; construction, civil engineering and development; supply of hospitality and leisure services; supply of nutrition and health goods; supply of general services and small manufacturing enterprises.
Membership of MEA is open to any individual, commercial partnership registered in Malta, group of companies consisting of two or more commercial partnerships registered in Malta whose control and management is organised as a group, a branch of a company registered outside Malta, a statutory body constituted in terms of Maltese Law or a civil partnership constituted in terms of Maltese law, which is an employer and has accepted the principles, objects and rules of the association. The MEA statute provides for the following sectoral groups: banking, insurance, financial and other professional services; beverages, food and tobacco; chemicals, printing, paper and packaging; clothing, leather and textiles; construction, electrical, engineering and metal; electronics; general manufacturing; hospitality, tourism and travel; transport, communications, shipping and freight; and wholesale, retail and other commercial services.
Membership of COC is open to all persons engaged in trading, commercial and industrial activity in Malta. There are four types of membership designed to suit the various requirements of the business community:
individual membership - any person with business interests in Malta may become a member of the COC;
life membership - open to persons who have been members of the COC for at least 30 years;
corporate membership - applicable to any company, group of companies or partnership registered under the terms of the Companies Act 1995, and any association, organisation or body of persons registered in Malta and engaged in commercial or industrial activity in or from Malta; and
associate membership - recommended for persons who, although not directly involved or active in the business community, wish to remain in contact with the COC and its activities.
FOI is a national representative organisation for the Maltese industrial community. It is an independent, non- political organisation financed entirely by private industry and industry-related services enterprises. Membership of FOI tends to be of a corporate nature. Membership is open to enterprises operating within manufacturing or related service sectors. While FOI represents most large companies in Malta, the bulk of FOI’s membership is made up of small firms.
The number of national peak employers' associations has remained unchanged since 1965, the year when MEA was founded. The associations have registered an increase in members from the services sector in the last 10 years. In FOI, there has been an increase in membership in services, including tourism, the financial sector, information technology and telecommunications, consultants, shipping and freight, and the construction and contracting industry. COC has registered an increasing number of members involved in information and communications technology.
There have been no mergers, splits or creations of new peak associations since their creation. Attempts at merger have been made between MEA and FOI but have proved unsuccessful. On the other hand, other notable forms of organisational restructuring has happened in the past 10 years. GRTU has embarked on a decentralisation programme, whereby entrepreneurs from different areas meet on a regular basis to discuss their problems. Each zone elects its own area representative whose main aim is to coordinate between the locality and the central administration. In MEA there has been a complete overhaul of the secretariat over the past two years. The policy now is to adopt a more 'proactive' stance towards members. Over the past years, FOI has recruited some highly qualified employees but it still has only a small pool of staff.
In view of Malta’s bid for EU membership (which will now occur in May 2004), the role and efforts of employers' associations became oriented towards this area. Besides, in the past few years, MEA has shifted its emphasis. Previously, MEA was perceived to be an organisation which dealt with the trade unions. Today, it also has a strong base of non-unionised companies, mostly from the services sector. The services offered by MEA cover the whole spectrum of human resource consultancy activities. At the same time, FOI has gradually turned its focus to competitiveness and the generation of new employment.
There is a degree of rivalry among employers' organisations, especially regarding membership. Traditionally, rivalry existed between FOI, which promotes the interests of exporters, and COC, which promotes the interests of importers.
Membership
In Malta, membership of employers’ organisations is voluntary. The table below sets out the membership of the four main associations.
| Organisation | Members | |
| Companies/establishments | Employees of member companies/establishments | |
| GRTU | 12,000 | 20,000 |
| MEA | 230 | 36,000 |
| COC | 1,000 | nd |
| FOI | Around 300 | Over 25,000 |
Little information exists regarding the overall trends in employers’ organisation membership in recent years. However, membership in COC has increased slightly in the past 13 years. FOI membership peaked in the early nineties and went into a shallow decline in the following decade. However in 2003 and 2004 the number of new members has been double the number of resignations / closing down.
Tasks and responsibilities
The most important tasks of MEA are political lobbying on labour market/industrial relations issues and social security issues, regular consultations with trade unions, participation in bipartite or tripartite corporatist institutions, collective bargaining coordination, and concluding binding agreements.
FOI plays an active role in safeguarding the interests of industry and in cultivating mutual understanding between government, industry, trade unions and other employers' organisations. Its most important tasks are political lobbying on labour market/ industrial relations issues; participation in bipartite or tripartite corporatist institutions; industrial policy; vocational training; research (for example, it organises surveys on industrial trends on a regular basis) and development programmes (such as health and safety courses); and social security issues. An increasingly important aspect of FOI's work is its consultative role vis-à-vis the government and parastatal institutions. It also provides independent advice to prospective investors to Malta.
The main objective of COC is to promote and protect business interests by making active representations on behalf of its members with government and others on all matters affecting business. The most important tasks performed by COC include: political lobbying on labour market/industrial relations issues, industrial policy and social security issues; regular consultations with trade unions, and participation in bipartite or tripartite corporatist institutions. It is also involved in vocational training and research (it collects, circulates and publishes statistics and other information relating to the business sector). It is the policy of COC to promote free competitive enterprise by supporting, or, if need be, resisting any laws and regulations affecting business interests. COC also acts as arbitrator in the settlement of disputes connected with commerce, industry, shipping etc, and it attends to inquiries and problems in relation to these sectors.
GRTU is mostly involved in political lobbying on diverse issues relating to its six divisions (see above). It is especially active when the state budget is being drawn up and monitors the impact of new laws or other developments on its members. GRTU is proactive, in that it puts forward suggestions to the government for new laws, regulations, and institutions that could facilitate the work of its members.
All these four organisations took an active part in the Malta EU Steering Action Committee (MEUSAC) in the pre-accession Malta-EU negotiations. Besides, all organisations take part in the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development (MCESD), Malta’s highest forum for consultation and social dialogue between the social partners.
The four peak associations are mainly funded through membership. However, they also receive direct financial assistance from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to familiarise themselves with EU issues and organise EU related activities. Through such assistance in 1996, FOI and COC have set up the Malta Business Bureau in Brussels together with a subsidiary office in Malta. The bureau offers various information services for members of the two organisations and has acted as a vital link between developments in Brussels and developments in Malta throughout the recent Malta-EU negotiation process.
Debates on the role of employers' organisations started after the Maltese independence in 1964. Such debates were particularly strong between 1971 and 1987, when the Malta Labour Party was in power. COC, MEA and GRTU together with other smaller employers' organisations felt threatened by the control exercised by the government. They argued that the government’s unilateral decisions without consultation regarding wages were rendering organisations uncompetitive. Debates arose again in the 1990s with regard to which employers' organisations should be represented in MEUSAC (see above).
Commentary
Despite the small number of peak employers' associations in Malta and their overlapping memberships, they suffer from lack of coordination. Merger attempts have always failed. For example, in 1984 a loose association of the principal business organisations (FOI, COC, MEA and GRTU) was set up. This association, the Confederation of Private Enterprise, was born out of the need of the private sector to speak with one voice against the then Labour government. However, the experiment was soon aborted. The failure of the attempts made to amalgamate the employers’ associations may be due to their reluctance to abandon their 'fiefdoms' and the rivalries among them. Unfortunately, these organisations often act on an individual basis rather than presenting a common front. On the other hand, they participate together in numerous boards (such as MCESD). Over the past years, the employers' organisations have occasionally formed an effective common front against specific threats to their common interests. In recent years they have presented a common front in favour of Malta joining the EU. (Manwel Debono, Malta Workers' Participation Development Centre)
Eurofound doporučuje citovat tuto publikaci následujícím způsobem.
Eurofound (2004), Employers’ organisations examined, article.
