A comparative study of the French and Maltese labour movements

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to compare and contrast industrial relations in France and Malta. The comparative approach allows for insights which may not be possible when studying 'a' labour movement by itself. The choice of Malta came about because of concern with domestic industrial relations. France was selected because the French labour movement, along with Italy and some other Mediterranean labour movements follow quite a different pattern from that of Malta. In carrying out this study, besides making use of written material, recourse was also made to interviews with union officials. The lack of sufficient literature about industrial relations in Malta prevented full development of certain points. The thesis begins by giving in Chapters 1 and 2, the labour history and development in France and Malta, showing the plural representation of labour in France and dominance of the General Workers' Union in the Maltese labour movement. Chapter 3 presents the philosophy of the major labour unions, indicating greater concern with ideology of the French unions. Chapter 4 examines the particular collective bargaining structure of the two countries. Among other things, it discusses the different levels of collective agreements and the relative strength of union power in the enterprise. The conclusion synthesizes some of the earlier work and summarizes the major findings.