Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/587664
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 18 OCTOBER 2015 News 7 FORUM Unions Maltin yesterday called on the government to re- store leave entitlement for public holidays that fall on weekends. "When the previous administra- tion decided to ban such public holidays, its excuse was that the economy was performing poorly," ForUM president Kevin Bonello said in a statement. "Now that the economy is re- portedly booming, we expected that the government would have reversed this decision in its Budget for next year." The absence of such a restora- tion was one of ForUM's criticisms of the 2016 Budget that was an- nounced on Monday. It also hit out at the fact that peo- ple born after 1968 will now have to pay 41 years' worth of social contributions in order to qualify for a state pension, up from the current 40 years. Bonello warned that this measure will reduce the natural turnover of workers, hence rendering it harder for youths to find a job and for em- ployers to seek new blood. He also claimed that it could disincentivise people from pursu- ing their studies at doctorate and post-doctorate level. The confederation made up of 12 trade unions also criticised the Budget for its lack of concrete pro- posals with regards a living wage, education, nano technology and tax evasion. On a positive note, it hailed the Budget for cutting income tax for low income workers, kick-starting a pension reform, introducing a subsidised pilot project for live-in carers, and considering the con- struction of a tunnel between Mal- ta and Gozo. Unions' forum calls for reversal of weekend public holiday ban New union chief Josef Bugeja insists GWU has 47,000 members Forum Unions Maltin warns that extension of social contributions necessary to qualify for a state pension could harm prospects for employers, young jobseekers CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1 How- ever, the union's freshly elected secretary-general Josef Bugeja reassured MaltaToday that the official statistics are neither in- flated nor outdated, adding that the numbers published by the registrar are "real." This corroborates previous claims by Bugeja's predecessor Tony Zarb who in December 2014 said that 3,377 new mem- bers joined the GWU over the previous 11 months. "The numbers cannot be inflat- ed because they are audited and checked against the records pro- vided by employers," Bugeja said, adding that the statistics are veri- fied by the registrar every year. Confirming that union's mem- bership stood at around 47,000, Bugeja explained that the figures cannot be tampered because these are checked against infor- mation provided by the private sector and government. Union members employed in the public sector have their membership fee deducted directly from their wages, while members in the public service normally pay their fees directly to the union. The unofficial figures show that the GWU is stronger in the pub- lic sector than in the private sector. But one sector were the union suffered a clear haemor- rhage of members is the ports and dockyards which have been privatised in re- cent years. The privatisation of the Malta Dockyards in 2010, which for years was the GWU's impenetrable f o r t r e s s , d e a l t the union a blow in terms of members and militancy. According to the figures seen by MaltaToday, follow- ing the transfer of the dry docks to the Italian private firm Palumbo, the union's metal and construction section lost some 2,000 members. Moreover the same fig- ures show that the union suffered a haemorrhage in all sectors including its retired persons section and the youth branch, which was created in 2010. The unofficial statistics also indicate that the union suffered other significant de- clines in its maritime and avia- tion section with a loss of 600 members, with the union suffer- ing a similar loss in its chemical and energy sector. According to the figures pro- vided in the registrar's report, the GWU's rival union Union Had- diema Maghqudin had 26,103 members in 2012/3. The third largest union is the Malta Union of Teachers, which according to the report has almost 8,000 members. The GWU, which perennially claims to be the largest in Malta, first provided figures to the reg- istrar in 2001/2, with the report putting the union's membership at 47,653. Malta bucks the trend In recent years, union member- ship has dwindled in most Euro- pean countries but Malta is one of the few countries which has registered a growth. In most industrial countries union membership has been fall- ing sharply but this is not the case in Malta, as figures provided by the Registrar of Trade Unions show that union membership is increasing year-on-year. Yet, this growth has not kept pace with the overall growth in employ- ment, meaning that union den- sity has drifted downwards. The most recent report from 2012/3 shows that 31 registered trade unions had 91,576 mem- bers while employers' associa- tions had 9,084 members. Union membership increased by 2,396 over the previous year while employers' association membership dropped by 363. In the registrar's first ever re- port published in 1991/2, union membership stood at 71,057 but this did not include GWU mem- bers as the union only started providing membership informa- tion in 2001/2. This growth is mainly down to the increase in pensioner mem- bership and if these members are excluded from the figures, the overall growth does not match the growth in employment. Un- ion density in Malta has fallen slightly from 53% in 1996 to 51% in 2012. As in most European countries, Malta has several competing unions, often divided on politi- cal grounds, although nowadays ideological differences are less accentuated than in the past. ForUM president Kevin Bonello said the extension of social contributions will make it harder for young people to find a job YEAR 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Chemical and Energy 2678 2604 2556 2430 3188 3178 2986 2454 Public Service 2387 1828 2131 1833 2166 2177 2356 1978 Hospitality 1926 1915 2123 1808 1879 1762 1679 1245 Manufacturing & SMEs 2632 2231 2348 1891 Maritime & Aviation 1502 1358 1597 1455 2138 1910 1458 854 Metal & Construction 2652 2434 2418 1250 1792 1489 1034 634 Professionals & Services 1564 1586 1720 1814 1971 2099 2237 2240 Technology & Electronics 2528 2289 2310 1961 2801 2608 2454 1963 Youth Section 318 1267 1589 2108 1230 Pensioners Section 6418 6527 6609 6596 5881 6181 6309 5934 TOTAL 24287 22772 23812 21356 23083 22993 22621 18532 these are checked against infor- mation provided by the private sector and government. Union members employed in the public sector have their membership fee deducted directly from their wages, while members in the public service normally pay their fees directly to the union. The unofficial figures show that the GWU is stronger in the pub- lic sector than in the private sector. But one sector were the union suffered a clear haemor- rhage of members is the ports and dockyards which have been privatised in re- cent years. The privatisation of the Malta Dockyards in 2010, which for years was the GWU's impenetrable f o r t r e s s , d e a l t the union a blow in terms of members and militancy. According to the figures seen by MaltaToday, follow- ing the transfer of the dry docks to the Italian private firm Palumbo, the union's metal and construction section lost some 2,000 members. Moreover the same fig- ures show that the union suffered a haemorrhage in all sectors including its retired persons section and the youth branch, which was created in 2010. The unofficial statistics also indicate that the union suffered other significant de- clines in its maritime and avia- tion section with a loss of 600 members, with the union suffer- Josef Bugeja The internal document leaked to MaltaToday shows a sharp decline in the union's membership