maltatoday | SUNDAY • 4 MAY 2025
4
INTERVIEW
Josef Bugeja:
'Whoever
abuses
workers
should be
criminally
charged and
named'
THE rise of platform work is
one of many challenges to work-
ers' rights, Josef Bugeja says as
he reflects on the significance of
Workers' Day.
I meet the GWU secretary gen-
eral on the eve of 1 May; the inter-
national day dedicated to workers
and an occasion to celebrate the
rights acquired by workers over
the decades.
Bugeja tells me the day is al-
so a reminder of the new chal-
lenges for workers' rights in an
ever-evolving world. He says
platform workers are one such
category requiring protection.
I ask him whether he agrees
with a four-day work week. Buge-
ja agrees. As a matter of fact, he
tells me that he agrees with any
other proposals that give workers
a more balanced lifestyle. How-
ever, he notes that such a radical
change would need to be imple-
mented through global union ef-
forts.
Bugeja also expresses his com-
plete opposition to the concept
of 'doing more with less'. He
adds that despite local employee
shortages, workers should not be
made to bear excessive loads and
get burned out in the name of ef-
ficiency.
Bugeja speaks of Malta's modern
realities with regards to countless
foreign workers who are abused.
He blasts employers who show no
sympathy toward their employ-
ees and details a number of cases,
which he calls "modern slavery".
General Workers Union Secretary
General Josef Bugeja believes
automatic union membership
is necessary in order to combat
extreme cases of worker abuse. He
sits down with Matthew Farrugia to
talks workers' rights and poor labour
conditions
