A public consultation should have been initiated before film producers were informed of workplace regulation proposals by email, the Nationalist Party said Friday, criticising the government’s lack of communication with local film producers.
“Where is the justice towards workers in the film industry sector?” Questioned PN MPs Ivan Castillo and Julie Zahra. The MPs said that Film Commissioner Johann Grech “continues to do what he wants” and questioned how the Commissioner can speak about justice towards the sector’s workers if he has not even spoken to them on matters such as this.
The PN was reacting to new guidelines that were sent to film crews on Wednesday evening by Malta Film Commissioner Johann Grech, who is expecting their feedback by the end of the year before rolling them out across the industry.
The PN said that this lack of consultation is evidence of a lack of respect for industry workers and the unions which represent them. It said that the word consultation seems to have “once again disappeared” from the Labour Government’s vocabulary.
The Opposition asked whether the Film Industry Commission had consulted with the Department for Industrial and Employment Relations before issuing these regulations, and questioned whether the regulations were in line with the country’s employment laws. It also asked if the regulations make sense where they are relevant. The PN asked what action the Director of Industrial and Employment Relations will take in this situation.
It further asked if these conditions go against existing Subsidiary Legislation 452.87 of the Organisation of Working Time Regulations. It said that it raised the question because there is no work regulation order for workers in the film industry.
A work regulation order should be introduced for the film sector in order to safeguard and further strengthen workers in the creative business, the PN said. It said that this introduction would also ensure that the workers’ rights are protected and that “any kind of gaps that currently exist” would be avoided. It added that this change would benefit the industry because the work requires “particular needs and is not work that follows standard trends like many other jobs”.
Robert Abela’s Government is continuing to harden its head by not introducing a work regulation order for this sector, the PN said. It continued that workers in this sector have the right to be protected by the law, and not with “pledges”, some of which it said are a “clear case of precarious practices”. The Opposition questioned if this is the best that the government can do for those workers whose livelihood depends on this sector.
The PN concluded by saying that to have a truly fair Malta, there must be serious consultation, transparency, inclusion, and guaranteed work “even in the film industry”. It added that there should be incentives and support for all workers in the sector while making sure that the sector grows and keeps attracting serious investors.