Maltese legislation granting trade union rights to workers does not extend to the police force. The main Maltese trade unions have started a campaign to win these rights for police officers. This campaign has intensified following a judicial protest by members of the force about overtime pay. While the response of the Police Commissioner has been rather cautious, the government has started discussions between the Ministry for Justice and officials of the police corps on the issue.
Background
The Employment and Industrial Relations Act (EIRA) (216Kb PDF), which regulates labour relations in Malta, defines ‘employment’ in relation to a trade dispute as any relationship whereby one person does work or performs services for another, ‘other than a service as a member of a disciplined force’. This proviso, which is repeated in the definition of ‘worker’ and ‘contract of service’, denies members of the police force and the armed forces the right to join a trade union or to participate in sympathy with the actions of a trade union.
Similarly, Maltese law relating to the operations of the police force prohibits police officers from joining trade unions or any similar organisation other than the Malta Police Association (MPA). According to Article 24.2 of the Police Act (201Kb PDF), MPA aims to promote the welfare and professional efficiency of its members by representing their views on such matters as their hours of duty, leave, pay and allowances, pensions and other conditions of service, and rules of discipline in general. It also defends individuals in disciplinary proceedings. MPA must be registered with the Commissioner of Police, who may not refuse registration provided that the MPA statute is not in conflict with the Police Act. The association represents at least 15% of the police force. The European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR) has stated that these legal provisions conform to the European Social Charter (ESC) since judicial proceedings afford appropriate protection against arbitrary refusal of registration.
Trade unions’ campaign
The Maltese general trade unions have been campaigning to give police officers the right to become trade union members. In May 2009, the Union Haddiema Maghqudin (UHM) held a meeting on the subject with Police Commissioner John Rizzo and Sonny Portelli, Chair of the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development (MCESD), Malta’s tripartite national institution for social dialogue. Following a press conference with the theme ‘Trade union rights for police officers’, UHM officials held a meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister Tonio Borg (who is responsible for all policing matters) and with officials of MPA. In a follow-up to these initiatives, the Secretary General of the European Federation of Public Service Employees (EUROFEDOP), Bert Van Caalenberg, visited Malta to advise UHM.
This issue was raised again after a judicial protest by some members of the police force about overtime pay that they are allegedly due. The General Workers’ Union (GWU) organised a seminar on trade union representation for the police. The Police Commissioner, one of the speakers at the seminar, was cautious about trade union rights for police officers, saying that he feared such rights might lead officers to claim that certain orders fall outside their remit or job description. Anglu Farrugia, a former police superintendent and now deputy leader of the Labour Party (PL), currently in opposition, declared his support for trade union representation for police officers on condition that they would not have the right to strike. Answering a parliamentary question, the Minister for Justice and Home Affairs, Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici, said that the government was discussing police officers’ right to become trade union members with members of the police corps. GWU welcomed this statement and has now also appealed to the government to extend this right to the members of the armed forces. During a business breakfast organised by the ruling Nationalist Party (PN), GWU’s Secretary General, Tony Zarb, raised the issue and appealed to Malta’s Prime Minister, Lawrence Gonzi, to give members of the security forces the right to join trade unions.
Commentary
Police officers claim that their duties often entail tasks that would qualify them to be defined as normal workers. There should therefore be no qualms about their right to join a trade union. The counter-argument is that since the work of police officers is considered to be an essential service to society, their duties have to be performed within the parameters of a disciplined force. This accounts for the Police Commissioner’s cautious and low-key statement on the matter. Yet various other workers deemed to be providing an essential service under EIRA are allowed to join trade unions and undertake legitimate industrial action on condition that minimum services continue to be provided.
Saviour Rizzo, Centre for Labour Studies