2022 will soon be consigned to the history books. The past 12 months were characterized by the Russian invasion of Ukraine which had a global ripple effect in terms of energy prices and inflation. On a positive note, the world return to a degree of normality as for the first time since the end of the last decade, people were able to mix and socialise as the fear of the Covid-19 pandemic started to ease.

For UHM Voice of the workers 2022 will also be remembered for the inauguration of its new premises which crowned years of hard work and financial planning. From a trade union perspective, one of the major highlights was the union’s proactive approach to fight inflation with respect to thousands of public service employees. Thanks to the union’s proposal which was taken on board by the other major workers’ organisations, government employees will be getting a top-up over and above the collective agreement and cost of living increase. Consequently, the relativity in the wage salary scale will not be distorted. However, this was only possible because unions approached the matter as a united front.

Looking ahead at the New Year, it would be a mistake to rest on our laurels.  During the next 12 months we expect to see the UHM’s proposal for the setting up of an employment contracts portal to be up and running. This project which has been in the offing since 2016 has the potential to be a strong tool to fight precarious employment and abuses. Its aim is simple – to establish contract templates to rule out the possibility of having clauses and provisions below the minimum required by law. Moreover, the law needs to be amended as to date it is still possible to recruit workers without a written contract.

2023 should also be the year when the government legislates to introduce the right to disconnect. Much has been said and promised on this matter including that Malta would be implementing this measure before it becomes an EU Directive. Yet, to date nothing tangible has materialised.

Moreover, if we truly believe in improving our work-life balance UHM also expects the start of talks on how to beef up the EU directive which came in force last summer. Unfortunately, when this was transposed into Maltese law, only the bare minimum was implemented and to all intents and purposes this was almost ineffective. This was a case of too little too late.

These are just three areas in which we expect to see progress. There are other issues, but let’s keep our feet on the ground. Rome was not built in a day after all!