Malta has recorded its lowest ever percentage of workers who belong to a union, according to a report compiled by an EU research agency.

Just 38% of workers in the country were unionised, making it the lowest figure on record, Eurofund reported in its Annual Review of Working Life in 2018.

The Registrar of Trade Unions reported that trade union membership had increased by 1,562 over a span of 12 months. However, the rate of growth was not keeping up with an increased rate of employment registration across Malta.

A labour force survey for the second quarter of 2018 found that the total number of workers had reached 231,152, marking an increase of 13,000 employees over the previous year.

The report adds that over 11,000 pensioners, who became lifelong union members, were also included in total trade union membership, putting the national unionisation rate of those gainfully employed at 38%.

“While membership figures grew in Malta, the rate of growth was insufficient to keep pace with the increased employment,” the report noted.

It showed that declining memberships represented a trend across several European regions from the beginning of the millennium for a variety of factors. The drop accelerated during the financial and economic crisis.

A spokesman for UĦM Voice of the Workers said that notwithstanding dwindling union membership rates across Europe, according to statistics compiled by the UN’s International Labour Organisation Malta classified fifth among EU members in the rate of new union memberships.

“The union opines with the fact that it is part of a regional trend rather than a global one. Trade unions need to adapt to the labour market exigencies. In other regions, namely in America, unions are forward-looking by tackling the phenomenon of new technology. In fact, new forward-looking unions are increasing in numbers, whereas traditional ones are decreasing,” the spokesman said.

“However, UĦM Voice of the Workers has continuously been stressing the fact that the labour market should be regularised.

“UĦM Voice of the Workers has, time and time again, proposed the setting up of a portal whereby contracts of work, having the basic minimum rights stipulated and safeguarded by law, are made available online.

“This proposal is intended to curb precarious employment.”

The General Workers’ Union’s general secretary, Josef Bugeja, said the union did not necessarily see density rate numbers as a cause for concern but, rather, an opportunity. He said the biggest mistake the trade union movement could make was to be complacent. “Though numbers have not been decreasing, they have not been increasing at the same rate of those gainfully occupied.

“I believe that, in order to increase numbers and influence, we must reach out to new sectors of the economy and attract new forms of employment,” he said.

“In order to achieve this, we need to increase our relevance, modernise our internal structures, renew our internal process and increase communication.

“The employee/members’ profile is changing and our workplaces are changing and trade unions need to do likewise.

“Our core values and principles remain the same but the way we reach out to a new class of employees needs to change. This is why it is more of an opportunity.”

Asked whether the GWU’s proposal to introduce mandatory union membership would address the gap in membership, Mr Bugeja said the proposal was based on the fact that employees were not enjoying the right of association as enshrined in the Constitution and that all workers benefitted from the services offered by the trade union movement, such as the introduction of payslips or increase in minimum wage.

“In most collective agreements these benefits are included but non-unionised workplaces are not covered or employees are not informed of their rights,” Mr Bugeja said.