Employee Representation

What are the principal types of employee representation?

The Employment and Industrial Relations Act (Chapter 452 of the laws of Malta) distinguishes between two principal types of employee representative, namely:

• the recognised union representative, being a representative of a registered trade union that is expressly recognised by an employer for the purposes of collective bargaining; or
• in the case of non-unionised employees, a representative who is duly elected from amongst the non-unionised employees by means of a secret ballot called for such purpose by the employer.

The aim of employee representation is to promote and protect the collective interest of the employees, whether in the context of collective bargaining or whenever the participation or involvement of employees is required in certain situations or undertakings, such as collective redundancies, business transfers, cross-border mergers or undertakings that employ at least fifty employees.

In the case of trade unions, these may also assist individual employees with matters such as termination and redundancy, in such a way that should an agreement not be reached between the employer and the employee, and the trade union feels that the termination was not justified, it would assist the employee in filing proceedings before the Industrial Tribunal or the Courts.

Maltese law also regulates the setting up of specific representative bodies in line with European Union requirements, particularly the setting up of European works councils in community-scale undertakings and community-scale groups of undertakings, as well as representation in European public limited liability companies (otherwise known as Societas Europaea) and European Co-operative Societies.

Trade Union Recognition

The Recognition of Trade Unions Regulations (Subsidiary Legislation 452.112) regulates the manner in which trade unions may be recognised by an employer. Broadly speaking, an employer must recognise a trade union that has more than fifty per cent of that employer’s employees as its members.

Certain recognition scenarios involving more than one trade union as specified in the said Regulations, require a ballot of union members to determine and decide which trade union should be recognised.