Union recognition

Abstract

The idea of this long essay was first conceived soon after the Freeport recognition dispute, a saga one might recall dominating the local media whilst creating a public interest in trade union activities arguably not experienced recently. Whilst the issue might have lost its place on the media carousel, the issue that created this controversy, to date, remains unsolved, and no measures have as yet been taken to avoid a repetition of such a saga. As the story unravelled, it was fascinating, albeit worryingly so to note that a simple claim for recognition by a trade union would risk bringing the country to a veritable stand still, whilst also threatening the existence of Malta's largest trade union in the process. Whilst planning the essay and focusing on the aim of shedding some light on the local trade union recognition scenario, an unexpected opportunity arose to travel to the USA to study organized labour. The main topic coincidentally being the way union recognition issues are resolved within the US, an issue which is currently a hot topic amongst American trade unions. The final decision was thus reached to include another country, namely the United Kingdom, and together with the US method, compare both systems with the Maltese method in an attempt to decipher a way forward aimed at improving the current scenario in Malta, in the hope that such a monumental and potentially damaging scenario might be avoided in the future.