Labour legislation and related amendments are discussed at formulation stage in the tripartite Employment Relations Board (ERB). Members forming this board come from trade unions, employer associations and the government.

Excluded from regulations
The Collective Redundancies (Protection of Employment) Regulations do not apply to terminations of employment effected under contracts of employment concluded for limited periods of time or for specific tasks, except where such terminations take place prior to the date of expiry or the completion of such tasks and the reason for such prior termination is the redundancy of the employees terminated.

Concern of trade unions

While the transposition of EU labour related directives into Maltese laws (including the one concerning collective redundancies) failed to generate any national debate (Rizzo, 2009), the matter that most concerned trade unions was the legal term  'employee representatives'. Their major concern was that it may lead to the establishment of representative bodies in which trade unions are absent which employers may recognise as proxy employee representatives. It was feared that such recognition might eventually undermine the legitimacy and activities of proper trade unions. Trade unions maintained that enforcement authorities should concentrate their efforts on non-unionised undertakings since the unionised ones are adequately dealt with by trade unions (Baldacchino, 2009). However, it appears that over the years, the legislation did not result in tangible setbacks to the trade union movement in Malta, as trade unions kept their vital role during cases of collective dismissals.