Mtarfa mayor Daniel Attard has suggested it should be mandatory for all workers to join a trade union and that those who refuse should pay a social contribution. 

“We must keep up with progress in the world of work, where technology has become ever more prevalent and we must speak about new concepts, such as the idea of mandatory trade union membership,” Attard told a PL political activity this morning.

“One can argue that we must protect the rights of people who don’t want to join a union, and this can happen by obliging those who don’t unionize to pay an annual fee to a fund administered by social partners.”

“It’s a controversial subject but we’ve never been scared of controversy – from changes in the IVF law, to the morning-after pill, to medical and now recreational cannabis. This defines us. We can disagree but I believe we must place this issue on the national agenda and that the Labour Party must be part of this discussion.”  

Mandatory trade union membership was first proposed by the General Workers’ Union a few years ago.

GWU secretary general Josef Bugeja said that people who don’t want to unionise should be bound to pay a fee, cheaper than full membership, seeing as non-members also benefit from better work conditions negotiated by unions.

In his speech today, Attard also suggested that the Prime Minister should be empowered to appoint non-MPs to his Cabinet as “technocrats” for a specified period of time. 

“We definitely won’t agree on everything but that doesn’t matter because this is often where our best elements emerge.”

What do you make of this proposal?