Thirteen years later: trade unions in the Maltese private sector revisited

This paper explores the latent power of Maltese trade unions
in the private sector by reviewing the presence of collective agreements
in force in 2008. The study adopts a similar methodology to one
published in Bank of Valletta Review in 1996, based on 1995 data. Over
this 13-year period, the number of private sector collective agreements
in force has dropped from 212 to 168; the number of full-time, private
sector employees covered by collective agreements is slightly higher
(22,879 as against 22,128); but the proportion of the same employees
covered by collective agreements is lower by 6.2 percentage points
(from 32.9% to 26.7%). The data invites a sober reflection on the power
of trade unions in contemporary society.