Arnold Cassola calls mandatory union membership proposal a money-making venture

Mandatory trade union membership with an opt-out option against payment is not on, independent candidate Arnold Cassola said.

The former Alternattiva Demokratika chairperson said the proposal put forward by the General Workers’ Union was a “money-making scheme”.

Cassola said all employees should be encouraged to join a trade union because it is in their best interest but making this mandatory went contrary to the principles of a free country.

The Times of Malta reported that the GWU is proposing mandatory trade union membership with a non-enrolment option. Anybody opting out of a trade union will have to pay a fraction of the membership fee into a common trade union fund.

“I am against the GWU proposal… this proposal is another money-making scheme, rather than being something done in the interest of workers,” Cassola insisted, adding that in a free country people should be able to decide out of their own free will what to do.

Equality Minister Edward Zammit Lewis said the government was evaluating the GWU proposal and other options, during a meeting this week with the union.

The GWU proposal for mandatory trade union membership is aimed at combatting precarious employment by ensuring that all workers are unionised.

However, employer bodies had come out against the proposal when it was first floated a couple of years ago.