Discussions are currently underway between the employers and the trade unions to regularize the whole system of hiring and recruiting workers coming from third countries. In this way it is ensured that the workers who need to be brought to Malta are not exploited or used.
The General Secretary of the General Workers’ Union Josef Bugeja said this to Talk.mt, while he stated that the union would like to have a distinction between who brings these workers, the companies that supply the service and also a group of other companies, which are registered and with permission, that offer a temporary employment service.
Mr. Bugeja stressed that workers coming from third countries who are offering a service, the so-called contractor, need to be regularized so that we don’t end up in a situation where there are abuses, including bringing in more workers than necessary, for various reasons.
He added that “the situation is more complex because here we are discussing and seeing the systems that are out there on how to bring workers. We want to see that in a global context, also because of human trafficking, we see that these workers come here with appropriate conditions, where there is a need, and so that neither the employee is abused nor we end up in a situation where there are more workers than are needed.”
In the context of all this, the General Secretary of the GWU also mentioned how as a union they made a detailed report both from the political, the legal, and from the workers’ point of view in general about what is happening on the workplaces. He also reiterated the principle that the GWU has been insisting on – of equal payment for work of the same value that should apply to the contractor’s workers.
