UHM Voice of the Workers will be taking industrial action in the wake of Government’s failure to implement a legal notice meant to end discrimination against contractor employees providing services to the public sector or entities.

This announcement was made by UHM CEO Josef Vella during the union’s annual conference marking Workers’ Day.

Legal Notice 128 of 2024, which was supposed to address this long-standing issue, came into force on 1 January 2025, after being announced in June 2024. Despite a six-month transition period meant to ensure smooth implementation, the necessary preparations were neglected. As a result, although the law has come into force, no tangible changes have occurred, and discrimination continues.

At the heart of the issue is the fact that, in recent years, contractor workers have been performing the same duties as their government-employed counterparts but under significantly inferior conditions. Last year, following years of pressure from UHM Voice of the Workers and other unions, Government pledged to address this injustice through legislation. However, despite the law’s enactment, the situation on the ground remains unchanged, leaving affected workers disillusioned and angry.

Josef Vella noted how UHM for months tried seeking clarifications on how the reform would be implemented. However, the lack of progress registered, left no other option rather than to resort to industrial action.

In his address, Vella also highlighted the exploitation of foreign workers from non-EU countries. He recounted the case of an employee who had most of his salary deducted supposedly for expenses related to accommodation, utilities, airfare, medical expenses, vaccinations, and work permits. This resulted in the employee’s take-home wage to be around €60.

The UHM CEO noted that such practices were illegal, but nonetheless still common.

He further expressed deep concern that flagged these abuses have been flagged by UHM, authorities indicated they were fully aware — a response that suggested a worrying level of normalization of such exploitation.

Vella described the grim reality being faced by some workers, citing an incidence whereby some of these affected employees who visited the UHM offices to flag their cases would seize the opportunity to top up their person bottles with water as they could not afford to buy drinking water.

In his closing remarks, Vella reflected on the legacy of Pope Francis, ending his speech with a poignant of the late Pontiff quote: “There are no unions without workers, but there are also no free workers without a trade union.”