Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1546198
The following has been edited for brevity and clarity. The full interview can be found on maltatoday.com.mt as well as our Facebook and Spotify pages. PHOTOS: JAMES BIANCHI / MALTA TODAY 5 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 16 AUGUST 2026 INTERVIEW You've been a trade union- ist for a number of years. How has the union's work changed? I joined the union as assistant secretary of the Hospitality and Catering Section in 2006. We're talking 20 years ago, not yesterday. The union's operations must always change, otherwise you become a dinosaur, you stop being relevant… To everyone who questions whether unions are still relevant or not I think trade unions, not just us, but unions in Malta are among the organisations that change the most. And they have to change, or they risk becoming obsolete… I think the numbers show that people are increasingly looking for security through trade unions because the shift toward digital and AI is going to bring quite a few challenges and opportunities worth reflecting on. You've anticipated my next question. Do you think AI and digitalisation are the union's next big- gest challenges? That's one of them, and I think it's the biggest one. I remember in the 1990s when robotics were introduced… I'd say that at the time it was necessary, but with hindsight, I think we could have handled it better. I think we also needed to start training our people… I believe that if we're able to manage these challenges, welcome them from the start and regulate them, the way we've already started regulating digital platforms, then AI can actually become a real help to all of us. There will be cases where it does take jobs away, but through this I want to be pushing and training my workers to have more ability and value, so their pay increases, and so that where AI becomes a workplace reality, it becomes a tool that helps them move forward rather than fall behind. Malta's economy is unrec- ognisable from what it was since you started working at the GWU. One thing that characterises it is the dependency on foreign workers. Has this new class of workers substantially changed the union's work? …I think we were among the first to raise the issue on foreign workers a long time ago, when we spoke about precarious work. Tony Zarb spoke out about this in 2010 and we kept pushing until 2014. Have we solved precariousness? No. I remember my predecessor Josef Bugeja raised the issue of couriers because we kept receiving information that these workers were practically being treated as self- employed when they could never legally be self-employed… Today we have three sections that deal heavily with foreign workers. We have a section dedicated specifically to catering for foreign workers. In fact, we've just hired, on a part-time basis, one of these foreign workers, who we're now using as our pivot point… So yes, if you're asking whether there was a big shift in the country, there was, and a positive one at that. But this also came with its own pains. Our pains, as you can see, are power cuts, the state of Malta's infrastructure, and the economy that has to keep growing to sustain itself… When we speak about overpopulation and overcrowding, we need to specify who exactly we're talking about because where does it start? Are we going to start cutting down tourism, after so many, many real struggles? I think the economic model needs a different kind of shift. There are people in Malta who are already here, they're vetted, and they already have everything required of them. Instead of failing to renew someone's permit just because a document was missing, or because their employer submitted an application late, we should be ensuring that those already here are retained rather than bring in someone else from abroad. I think that's where we still have work to do. You touched upon food couriers, saying the union is trying to replicate its work in this sector in other industries. What exactly is the GWU aiming toward here? It started when people from the higher ranks at Bolt and Wolt, and Josef Bugeja, the general secretary at the time, began pushing for these platforms to become the couriers' employers… We're talking about introducing standards like fixed wages above the minimum wage, and if they work extra hours, they're paid overtime. Break times must be respected. The couriers must have insurance. Their working hours must not exceed 12 hours… When it comes to cabs, we're pushing to apply the same model. What are the problems you're trying to address in that sector? They're significant. We know some cab owners split earnings 50/50 with the driver, and it's fair to say the income for a driver in that kind of arrangement can be decent. But we also know there are people working for €900 a month, with no rights whatsoever, no sick leave, nothing, as if they're self-employed. I don't like using the word, but I have to say it's the modern slave of 2026… We're finding models that work, where we can help workers earning €900, stuck in servitude, and move them toward earning a fairer amount. But for the person who's already doing well, we'll keep strengthening their position, legalise it, improve it, so that as many people as possible can reach that level, rather than the other way around… You also mentioned an- other area the GWU is looking at, namely the film industry. Yes. Unfortunately, workers such as actors in the film industry (not Film Commission employees), face a level of precarious work, no less than what we see with couriers or elsewhere… The time has come for us to start working out how we're going to regularise these workers, how we're going to give them the rights they truly deserve and we won't just stop at campaigning, we'll also do what we've done elsewhere, and start naming those who don't comply with the law… These cowboys cut corners in every possible way to drive prices down, and instead of improving standards, they're being dragged downward. The time has come for us to start naming and shaming them seriously and properly.