Description
More competitive and globalised market structures demand more flexible working arrangements that reward innovation and change. Employers are under pressure to reduce costs, inter alia, through avoiding standard employment protection, and substituting traditional employment contracts with more flexible employment contracts. The Employment and Industrial Relations Act (EIRA) is constantly being developed in order to mitigate the negative effects of flexible employment contracts. This project looks into economic and social changes in order to evaluate whether the current legislative framework and social dialogue structures are still relevant in ensuring decent work in Malta. The outputs of this project are a research study on changes in the Maltese Labour Market and how this is affecting workers and the Maltese employment structures. The study is also presented to stakeholders during a focused seminar in which social partners can comment on any proposed recommendation. During the seminar, an expert from Norway will present best practices from the Norwegian labour market and how it adapted to economic and social changes.
Summary of project results
More competitive and globalized market structures demand increasingly flexible working arrangements that are rewarding innovation and change. At the same time, employers are pressured to reduce costs, inter alia through avoiding standard employment protection, substituting traditional employment contracts with more flexible employment contracts. In Malta, the Employment and Industrial Relations Act (EIRA) is constantly under development to mitigate the negative effects of flexible employment contracts. The project looked into the economic and social changes in Malta and evaluated whether the current legislative framework and social dialogue structures are still relevant to ensure decent work in the country. The project came up with two research papers one focusing on changes in the Maltese Labour Market and a second one looking into the relevance of the Maltese employment structures. The results from these two research papers were presented and discussed with the stakeholders during a conference whereby social partners commented and proposed recommendations that were included in the final paper. During the conference, two experts from Norway presented the Norwegian model and best practices from their labour market in adapting to economic and social changes.
Summary of bilateral results