Tertiarisation of the Maltese economy : its impact on labour relations

Abstract

The tertiary sector of the Maltese economy has always been a mam contributor to the well being of the island's population, given that Malta lacks natural resources like wood, coal, oil and mineral deposits. In countries where 'land' is plentiful, economic development has taken place by first using up these resources and then turning to the services sector to maintain the achieved standard of living. Even though Malta lacks such resources, the secondary or manufacturing sector has also been with us since time immemorial with Maltese entrepreneurs importing materials from abroad for transformation into finished goods. In recent times, though, the Maltese economy has tended to follow in the footsteps of the more developed economies by decreasing the contribution of the manufacturing sector and increasing that of the tertiary, a process which may be called the tertiarisation of the Maltese economy. This Long Essay attempts to shed light on the effects of this process on labour relations in Malta. The 'Institutional Approach' to Labour Relations is adopted to analyse the impact on Trade Unions, Employers' Associations and on the Bargaining Structures of such relations. Due to the closure of various manufacturing concerns, unions were faced with becoming insignificant or restructuring. It is relevant to point out that this phenomenon changed the membership and the bargaining power of these unions. It also shows that employers' associations reflected the shift from primary and secondary production to tertiary production. A time-frame of 16 years (1986 - 2002) is analysed using mainly quantitative analysis in the hope of reading 'the signs of the times' so as to be able to make useful and effective recommendations for the future of Maltese industrial relations.