Workers’ day should make us aware of the increase in precarious employment which is characterised by exploitative practices.
Official statistics show that part-time work is increasing as much as full-time work. There are currently around 47,000 part-time workers in Malta, and 27,000 of these are only in part-time employment, and most workers are women.
Even though there are people who work part-time out of choice, in many cases part-time work is taken up because of a lack of better job opportunities. Many part-time workers are denied their legal rights and are denied opportunities such as house loans, given the nature of part-time work.
Precarious employment is also on the increase as regards contractual employment. Privatised companies such as Maltapost are replacing full-time workers with workers on contract who earn lower pay and have inferior working conditions. Contractual work offers little security and is often characterised by bad working conditions and lack of rights. The same can be said as regards workers who are being forced to change their status to self-employed by their employers, thus forfeiting basic workers’ rights. The Government should ensure that public tenders include work conditions as an important criteria for selection.
Government should also increase its enforcement mechanisms to ensure that working conditions as set by law are respected. Various anomalies in work legislation should also be amended. These include legislation on recognition of trade-unions and legislation regarding the industrial tribunal, which excludes public sector workers. It is shameful that the current government is resisting progressive reforms being proposed in the European Union such as an extension of maternity leave. At the same time the same Government does not think twice to support anti-social reforms which put business interests before workers’ rights.
Zminijietna reaffirms its support to trade unions who are struggling against neo-liberal reforms which are eroding workers’ rights. We support the call for a social Europe whereby job creation is based on quality, and not on exploitation and precariousness.
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