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Referring to its previous comments, the Committee regrets that the Government has taken no action to amend the Industrial Relations Act in its provisions for compulsory arbitration on the request of one of the parties. The Committee has commented on this violation of the principles of the Convention since the 1970s; since 1989, the Government has indicated that legislative action would be forthcoming to amend the Act. In the current report, the Government indicates only that discussions between the interested parties are in hand with the object of revising the provisions relating to industrial relations in Malta.

The Committee therefore reiterates once again that the Government should indicate in its next report the measures that have been taken to bring its legislation into conformity with the Convention by establishing a system in which recourse to binding arbitration involving the prohibition or interruption of strikes is confined to: (a) public servants acting in their capacity as agents of the public authority; (b) essential services, namely those whose interruption would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population; (c) situations of acute national crisis; or (d) cases in which both parties request such arbitration.

The Committee also requests the Government to provide the text of section 45 of the Constitution of Malta as amended by Act XIX of 1991.

The Committee would remind the Government that the International Labour Office is at its disposal for any assistance that may be needed in formulating amendments which will give effect to the Convention.