Flashpoints in local industrial relations in the 1990s

Abstract

In 1990, the Maltese Government submitted its formal application to become an EU member. In the same year, an incomes policy - under the auspices of a tripartite forum (the Malta Council for Economic Development) - was set up to direct industrial relations towards a more consensual ethic. These two events occurred at a time when the liberalisation of the market, initiated in 1987 following the victory of the Nationalist Party (NP) at the polls, was gathering momentum. Concurrently, the intensification of international trade was obliging many governments to restructure their economies in line with the demands of a globalised market. The year 1990 thus seems to mark a watershed in the Maltese socio-economic scenario. This paper reviews the flash points of a decade when the Maltese labour market, either by default or by design, seemed to orient itself more towards European standards.