Malta Workers' Union
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| Full name | Malta Workers' Union |
|---|---|
| Native name | Union Haddiema Maghqudin |
| Founded | 29 September 1966 by Salvino Spiteri |
| Members | 26,200 |
| Affiliation | INFEDOP, CMTU, MCESD, MEUSAC, EUROFEDOP, World Organization of Workers |
| Key people |
Jesmond Bonello, President Josef Vella, General Secretary Edwin Balzan, Vice-President |
| Office location | Floriana, Malta |
| Country | Malta |
| Website | www.uhm.org.mt |
The Malta Workers' Union (UHM) is a national trade union center in Malta. It was founded on 29 September 1966, under the name Malta Government Clerical Union (MGCU), and changed its name in 1978 to UHM. The union has members in both the private and public sectors, and emphasizes its political independence. This derives from the polarisation of the political set-up that affects trade unionism in Malta. Amongst the founder members of the Malta Workers Union (UHM), Salvino Spiteri and Maurice Agius respectively were the Union's first President and Secretary General.
The UHM is affiliated with the Confederation of Malta Trade Unions (CMTU), which is in turn affiliated to the International Trade Union Confederation. It represents Maltese workers in various fora including Malta Council of Economic and Social Development (MCESD) and Malta European Steering and Action Committee (MEUSAC).
The Union Haddiema Maghqudin (UHM) was founded on 29 September 1966, under the name of Malta Government Clerical Union (MGCU) with membership restricted to clerical employees in the Public Service. The Union was very well received by clerical employees and its membership immediately was encouraging. Its fruitful services to members and the various gains and achievements in improving the conditions of work of clerical employees, soon made the MGCU very popular among employees in the Public Service. It was recognised as a Union which acted and delivered. It was therefore not surprising that the Union was being continuously asked and pressed to extend its membership to all employees in the Public Sector.
The several requests made to the Union for the extension of membership could not be ignored and, therefore, after making the necessary arrangements to ensure that it would cope with the added volume of work that such an extension would bring upon it, by Resolution of the June 1973 General Conference, the Union changed its name to Malta Government Employees Union (MGEU) and membership was extended to all categories of workers in the Public Service, Parastatal Bodies and Public Corporations. Following this extension membership increased considerably and the Union continued to get stronger and to command more influence in the trade union field.
The year 1977 was characterised by a wave of industrial unrest due to several arbitrary changes in the conditions of work of employees in the Public Sector. In the case of a large number of Public Service employees, vacation leave was reduced drastically. Public Holidays for both Public and Private Sectors employees were also cut down substantially. Workers on sick leave, in both the Public and Private Sectors, were enjoined to report their sickness at local Police Stations and policemen called at their homes, at any time of the day, to ascertain that those reporting sick actually stayed at home - a new version of house arrest. All this was done without any consultations whatsoever.
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Wikipedia