On the 11th February 2015 the Malta Co-operative Federation was invited to share its views with the Committee entrusted by the Maltese Government to evaluate the Public Sector Co-operative reform. The Federation’s President Mr. John Mallia and the Federation’s CEO Mr. Rolan Micallef Attard represented the Malta Co-operative Federation.
Currently employees in the Public Sector may form Co-operative Societies under what are known as Scheme A and Scheme B. These policies were launched in 1996 and have remained unaltered ever-since. There are currently 4 registered co-operatives of this type in Malta and the Malta Co-operative Federation informed the Committee that it is currently assisting a group of government employees to start-up their own new co-operative, under the current schemes.
The issues raised for discussion by the Malta Co-operative covered the following topics:
- Employee empowerment,
- Work efficiency benefits,
- Cost-savings for government departments,
- Decrease in sick-leave,
- Utilisation of idle time with work from outside sources,
- Co-ordination effectiveness between the department director and the co-operative employees,
- Increase in take-home-pay for the co-operative member/worker,
- Autonomy and the ICA 4th principle,
- EU public procurement legislation,
- Provisional registration with the Board,
- Widening of salary scales for employees wishing to form or join a co-operative society formed under the schemes,
- Success stories from other countries.
The Committee expressed its intention to involve further the Malta Co-operative Federation in its intent to provide Government with a revised range of proposals for implementation consideration.
