MEP Candidate Wants Maltese Workers Protected From 24/7 Phone Calls And Messages
Labour MEP candidate Alex Agius Saliba has urged Malta to safeguard workers from disciplinary action if they avoid work emails, messages and phonecalls outside office hours.
“Technology means that you are technically available 24/7, but people should have a right to enjoy life outside work,” Agius Saliba told Lovin Malta. “People have told me that while there’s a lot of work and opportunities, they worry seeing their grandchildren constantly on their phones or their husbands always at work.”
“Instead of just focusing on jobs and salaries, we need to ensure that our workers have a high quality of life, which is being harmed somewhat through technology and the fast pace of life.”
The MEP candidate first made this call in an opinion piece on the Malta Independent this morning, warning technologies have “blurred the boundaries between work life and family life”.
The so-called right to disconnect was pioneered by France in 2017, forbidding disciplinary action against employees for failing to answer their phone or emails after office hours. Italy and Spain have also enacted similar legislation and the likes of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg are also discussing it.
Agius Saliba said he will discuss the right to disconnect with trade unions and social partners and will push for it to be enshrined in Maltese and EU law. Indeed, he said these are the sort of laws the EU should be pushing forward if it wants to remain relevant among its citizens.
“The EU needs to look more at social aspects, instead of just technical issues, or it will remain distant from its citizens and we will risk another Brexit,” he warned. “If the EU doesn’t act upon the expectations of its citizens, people will keep seeing it as a bureaucratic institution where MEPs can make good money and live it up.”
What do you make of Agius Saliba’s comments?
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