Some issues relating to the development of workers' participation with reference to the Maltese public sector

Abstract

The importance given to job satisfaction and fulfilment has in the last ten years or so attracted a considerable amount of attention throughout the whole world. This is particularly true in the case of employees of public sector enterprises, to which this study extensively refers. Although various interpretations of the term "public sector" exist, I will regard it as encompassing both Government Departments and agencies (that is, the Civil Service in general), as well as those Independent statutory Bodies which operate distinctly from Ministerial control, but which are ultimately owned by Government. The latter include commercial enterprises such as the Banks and the Malta Drydocks, as well as other bodies such as the University of Malta and the Malta Development Corporation. This interest in job satisfaction and the fulfilment of the individual at his place of work has resulted in various initiatives concerning the increasing participation of workers in matters relating to their work environment. The reasons for this vary; they range from a sincere concern for the intrinsic values of work and industrial democracy, to seeing workers' participation purely as a means of achieving workers' extrinsic goals; to the use of the concept as a means to encourage productivity, or as a tool for political mobilization.