Malta - Government adopted action plan to promote collective bargaining - February 28, 2026

In February 2026, the Government’s Department of Industrial and Employment Relations published the Nation Action Plan to promote collective bargaining in Malta. The government was obliged to do so by the European Directive on Adequate Minimum Wages in the Eu because collective bargaining coverage in Malta is below 80%. The actual deadline for establishing such an action plan was 31 December 2025. The action plan contains two main elements: first, establishing a ‘Resources Fund’ jointly financed by the Government and where possible with European Union resources as an instrument to build the institutional capacity of trade unions and employers’ organisations. Its primary objectives include providing structured training programmes, supporting outreach initiatives, and modernising union operations to meet the evolving needs of the labour market. The second main element to address the lack of collective bargaining coverage in non-unionised and precarious sectors is the creation of a High-Level General Agreement which will apply to all workers in sectors where no active union presence or sectoral agreements currently exist.

Read on: in English…

For more information, please contact Paul de Beer or Oana Ciuca, De Burcht (Scientific Bureau for the Dutch Trade Union Movement) p.t.debeer@uva.nl or the Head of communications at the ETUI, Mehmet Koksal mkoksal@etui.org. For previous full issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit https://www.etui.org/Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter or consult the archive with all articles in our database at www.cbnarchive.eu. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org.