Malta

Actually, in Malta, experiences related with the workers' financial participation are applied, essentially, in the bank and insurance sectors, it may exist other, in certain occasions, experiences in other sectors.

This is the case, or better it was, of the dry docks. The dry docks, while administered by the workers' council, they received dividends, though such has already finished because Government now appoints the administration board.

From the several workers' financial participation schemes, and according to their experience, the one that is closer, and of which exist some examples, it is the productivity bonus that some companies grant to their employees. Although such is not applicable by law, but by agreement.

The possibility of the companies to offer financial participation, in exchange for immediate wage increases, is not welcome near the workers once these prefer to receive the wages’ increase instead of waiting some time to receive eventual profits that the enterprise may distribute. This because, sometimes, it is very difficult to know if a company, in the end of the fiscal year, had profit or not. Frequently the companies send the profits to foreign banks, without passing the profits by the account registration of the company, preventing the verification of the existence, or not, of profit and which is the amount.

In Malta the majority of the workers would refuse such proposal.

There was a case of a company that agreed with their workers that the amount that they could save in components would be divided amongst the workers and the employer, and this enable them to win a lot of money and save money to the company.

The introduction of the plans of workers' financial participation depends, only and exclusively, on business will be always a challenge for the trade unions. The employer can go, individually, near the workers and apply, indiscriminately, the workers’ financial participation schemes, but such, in the opinion of the trade unions, should not be like this because, and in the case of application of the schemes, such should be done by agreement and to include all the workers, under the principle of equal wage for equal work.

When analysing the several financial participation’s schemes that are used, the opinion goes in the sense that the shares’ option could be the most suitable and correct scheme to apply. This because the profit sharing is not the most correct one especially due to the fact that it will be necessary to know who decides or defines what is the profit.

Facing the hypothesis of accepting, or not, the existence of wages’ increases in exchange for financial participation’s schemes, such is not excluded especially because situations where the workers, and in this case, the trade union, have accepted the fact of not having wages’ increase, even without receiving in return the application of a scheme of financial participation. They would just to certify themselves that the company is or not economical viable in order to assure that their sacrifice is not in vain.

In what concerns the possibility to reduce the wages and in return to receive the application of any financial participation scheme, such is would not be acceptable. They would accept, yes, if the conjuncture justifies so, as already happened previously, reducing the amount of the subsidies, in order to make the company profitable.