Workers' participation and the control of labour

Abstract

Malta's labour topography resembles that of industrialised states, with a negligible agricultural segment, and a substantial industrial and service oriented labour force. But, apart from five modest gifts of nature - sun, sea, sand, salt and stone the archipelago is bereft of mineral or other exploitable resources. Cheated of economies of scale and limited by insufficient indigenous investment capital and lack of state-of-the-art, technological competence, the island archipelago has had to earn its keep by mainly advertising itself as an attractive base to others. Today's 'cargo' - tourists, finance, pleasure craft, merchandise - has replaced the military strategists and colonial administrators of the not so distant past.