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Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Malta (RATIFICATION: 1965)

The Committee notes the observations of the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) received on 1 September 2015.

The Committee also notes with regret that the Government’s report has not been received. It is therefore bound to repeat its previous comments.

Article 3 of the Convention. Right of organizations to freely organize their activities and to formulate their programmes. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that under section 74(1) and (3) of the Employment and Industrial Relations Act 2002 (EIRA), where disputes have been referred to conciliation to promote an amicable settlement of a trade dispute and conciliation has not resulted in a settlement, one of the parties may notify the Minister and the Minister shall refer the dispute to the Tribunal for settlement.

The Committee recalls that compulsory arbitration to end a collective labour dispute is only accepted if it is at the request of both parties involved in a dispute, or in the case of disputes in the public service involving public servants exercising authority in the name of the State or in essential services in the strict sense of the term, namely those services whose interruption would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population. In this respect, the Committee requests once again the Government to take the necessary measures to amend section 74(1) and (3) of the EIRA to ensure the respect of these principles. The Committee requests the Government to indicate any developments in this regard and to indicate in its next report any measures taken to bring its legislation into conformity with the Convention.

The Committee hopes that the Government will make every effort to take the necessary action in the near future.